LEADING Super League referee Ben Thaler has agreed to be the man in the middle for the highly anticipated Stuart Evans Memorial East v West charity match.

Furthermore, Robbie Hunter-Paul, the former Bradford Bulls and New Zealand great and current BBC pundit, will also be at the game to hand out awards and hold a question and answer session with Alex Simmons from television programme Rugby AM.

As reported by The Press, the special Minster city amateur rugby league clash has been arranged to raise money in memory of York RL "legend" Evans and his late wife Jackie.

York Acorn and York Lokomotive will join forces on the west side of the river, with Heworth and New Earswick All Blacks doing likewise on the east side. Selby Warriors are also set to be represented, in the Heworth and All Blacks camp.

Gareth Evans, Stuart and Jackie's son and like his dad a qualified referee, had been down to take the whistle but Thaler's arrival frees him up to play for the West team. Evans junior, as well as officiating at various levels of the game, also turns out for the Lokos in the Yorkshire Men's League.

Phil Seymour, the former Knights announcer who now works for Wakefield Trinity and covered Four Nations games for the Rugby Football League this year, as well as working at top-end boxing shows, will be taking the mic.

Wakefield-born Thaler, 35, whose first-ever professional game was Leigh versus York back in 2001, when he was aged only 19, was one of many from the world of rugby league to attend Evans' funeral at York Crematorium last Friday.

Evans, the award-winning match official, rugby league administrator and well-known York City Knights fan and historian, died last month, aged 68, after a short illness. He is the only official to be named on the Knights' list of York RL legends.

The match is on Tuesday, December 27, with a 1.30pm kick off, at the neutral ground of Clifton Park, home of York RUFC.

It has been arranged by Acorn head coach Leigh Paul-Rientoul and team manager Steve Bromwich along with Spen Allison, the British Amateur Rugby League Association president and long-time friend of Evans.

Paul-Rientoul will coach the West Side and Heworth player-boss George Elliott, the former Knights and Leeds Rhinos threequarter, will take charge of the East Side.

Admission is £5 for adults, £2 for under-16s and free for under-5s.

Anyone wanting further details can phone Paul-Rientoul on 07854 378293, Bromwich on 07766 026536 or Allison on 07748 803589.