WHERE'S the ref from?

Only in refereeing is location as important as name, and so Kevin M Lynch was always Kevin M Lynch from Knaresborough in his 487 games in the middle or running the line in the Football League.

In fact Lynchy, as everyone from Kevin Keegan to the after-dinner speaker circuit knows him, is from Green Hammerton. Wife Jan runs a hair and beauty salon in Knaresborough, the nearest town; not that hair and beauty were top of the list in Lynchy's refereeing credentials.

Balding, moustachioed in the style of Arthur Lowe officialdom, and never the thinnest of men even in referee's slimming black, he belonged to the school of common-sense refs: an interpreter rather than an automaton enforcer, despite the magniloquent reporter Stuart Hall once calling him "a hanging judge of the old school". He never made it to the Premiership crucible, beyond fourth official duties, hence his book's sub-title of The Autobiography Of A Journeyman Referee.

Lynch has switched his pen from taking football miscreants' names to writing a book in diary form, slightly erratic grammar and all, charting his last season on a match by match basis in 1999-2000. A second thread, helpfully written in italics but disruptive to the rhythm, follows his path from a North Derbyshire cowfield to the Football League, Wembley and the foreign playing fields of the UEFA Cup Final.

As listeners to Radio Five and Talk Sport phone-ins will know, the men in black - or green or yellow these days - often are accused of ruining matches and yet Lynch's love of football shines through. Page after page reveals his dedication to travelling hither and thither, not only for matches but all manner of refereeing meetings, coaching forums and speaking engagements, despite his commitments as a regional sales manager in Harrogate for the Corporate Finance Division of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Thirty-three years a ref and linesman, 15 years at professional level, the last eight as a Football League referee, Lynch recounts those times with the humour and candour he brought to his sporting endeavours.

The jacket sleeve would have you believe he was "probably the most controversial referee seen in this country for many years". That is a bold statement in the age of Graham Poll and David Elleray (or Lord Elleray of Harrow, as Lynch cheekily calls the Harrovian school master), but controversy has played its part alongside such achievements as refereeing the 2000 Auto Windscreens Shield Final and being President of the Association of Premier League and Football League Match Officials.

There was the time he bowed to the crowd and started conducting the chanting in a Leyton Orient-Brentford game, a spontaneous, humorous act but one with the potential to incite a riot according to the football authorities, who stopped just short of suspending him. Most notoriously, he sent off five players in a fractious game in December 1997 between Wigan Athletic and Bristol Rovers, still a Football League record.

Lynch, the football whistle blower, does not alas blow the whistle on his fellow practitioners of the dark art, always being supportive, always one for all and all for one. Perhaps it will always be them and us: players, managers and fans versus the ref, but for a change we hear the ref's perspective, thick of skin but quick of thought.

"We've done our job honestly, and to the best of our ability," he writes after a crucial Bolton-Wolves encounter. "If that hasn't suited the Wolves players and manager, that is just tough."

Kevin M Lynch from Knaresborough: always a good sport in dealing with the ugly in the beautiful game.

Updated: 09:30 Wednesday, July 17, 2002