"IT'S a bit of a coup for York and Selby."

So says rugby league match official Dave Milburn after following old mate David Asquith in banking one of the best gigs in the game.

As reported by The Press, former York grade one referee Asquith was appointed match commissioner for the Challenge Cup final at the end of August.

Now, Milburn, a fellow York and Selby RL Referees' Society member, has got the same job for the Super League Grand Final on Saturday, the biggest appointment of his life, when Wigan and Warrington go head to head at a packed Old Trafford.

"We've been good mates for a long time," he said. "I was chuffed for David when he got the Wembley job and he's been the same for me for this one.

"It's great for the York and Selby Society, a bit of a coup really, to have both match commissioners for the two biggest games of the season.

"I'm really looking forward to it. I'm hoping for a nice fine evening and it should be a great game between two very strong sides. It's a pity there's not one from Yorkshire, but there you go."

The appointment is also a timely one for retired Barlby High School teacher Milburn, a week before he turns 67.

"It's a nice birthday present, isn't it."

Milburn, unlike Batley-born Asquith, hardly hails from a rugby league heartland, having grown up in Hertfordshire, born into a family of football referees. "We do have Hemel Stags, who have been around for years," he says, still with that southern accent.

But he caught the rugby league bug after moving to York in 1968 to do teacher training at the former St John's College and then doing his teaching practice at the old Castleford Boys Modern School.

"That's where I got infected with it," he said. "I used to play rugby union but I thought this here was a much better game."

After taking up his first full post at Barlby High - where he stayed until his retirement 36 years later - he began coaching the school team and, later, York Boys. Former Selby High School talent Gareth Ellis - now one of the greatest names in the modern game, of course - was in one of those old York teams.

"I started out as a referee in 1975," he explained, speaking from his home in North Duffield. "I took it up because I was coaching at school and needed to referee games, so I took the refs' course.

"I come from a family of soccer referees - my dad, two uncles and younger brother all did that. I decided to do something a little different."

He went on to referee in the old Alliance League for professional clubs' reserve and 'A' teams and was a touch judge at Championship, Super League and international level, including at the first Wales v England international in Swansea.

He also refereed twice at Wembley, albeit in schoolboy curtain-raisers, firstly ahead of the 1990 Challenge Cup final and then before the Great Britain v Australia showdown of 1995.

After hanging up his boots aged 53, he was invited to become a match commissioner, a job he's now been doing for a dozen years, including at the hugely successful 2013 World Cup.

"I very much enjoy it," he said. "I'm still part of the game and still able to give something back.

"I was one of the seven match commissioners for the last World Cup, which was a great tournament."

The quarter-final that year between Fiji and Samoa sticks fervently in his mind, as does the France v New Zealand clash in Avignon.

"I did three French games - one over here and two over there. In Avignon, having 21,000 French men and women singing La Marseillaise was something special, and then seeing 200 French children all doing the Haka was something else."

Saturday's showdown in Manchester, however, tops the lot.

"It's absolutely the pinnacle for me," he said.

Perhaps it would have been just that little bit better had Hull qualified for the final, rather than losing their semi-final to Wigan.

Not only would that have meant a team from this side of the Pennines being involved, but it would also have seen Ellis - now the Airlie Birds captain in the swansong of his glittering career, and also a neighbour of Milburn - grace Old Trafford.

"Gareth played for me (in York Boys) and was taught maths by my wife Hazel at Selby High. He lives just over there," he said, nodding out of his window.

Would any hint of bias have meant Milburn not getting the gig?

"No, there's nothing like that," he said. "The job of match commissioner is more on the technical side of things anyway, such as checking team sheets, medical forms and medical equipment."

He added with a smile: "I'm hoping it will be straightforward. I don't think there will be problems of colour clashes or doctors not turning up, or the pitch not being marked out properly. I hope those things will be absolutely spot on and that as a whole it's a great occasion."