WITH regard to recent letters from William Moore (Letters, March 2) and Ken Walker (Letters, March 13) that mention a name or three, I was fortunate to miss having to play on Hob Moor as when I joined RI they had two pitches at New Lane.

RI were one of the first junior clubs in Yorkshire to install floodlights and although not to today’s standards, good enough to play a match under.

An experimental game was organised for April 18, 1968, against Don Butler’s York Unicorns team, which usually included many players from senior clubs.

I was fortunate enough to be selected to play at loose head prop forward (against the fearsome Dougie Forsyth).

I cannot say for definite that particular game was refereed by Reg Coultas as no ref was named in the programme, but many senior clubs wanted to play us under lights the following season, which I’m sure he was involved in.

I recall a team photo, including Reg as referee, obviously taken with flash.

I found Reg to be a real gentleman and a good referee, and it was a shock to hear that biking home after he had been refereeing at Clifton Park, he suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 40.

Yorkshire Referees Society, North Group, will award the Reg Coultas Memorial Rose Bowl to their chosen Clubman of the Year at the end of the season, as has been the case for many, many years.

Mike Harrison, Millfield Lane, Nether Poppleton, York