PHEEP!: Haxby's Mick Cottingham has blown the whistle on his 25-year refereeing career

Man-in-black Mick Cottingham has decided to hang up his whistle after 25 years of unstinting officiating.

The Haxby referee, who began his career in the middle in the 1974/75 season and once ran the line at York City's Bootham Crescent, is retiring as a grade one official.

However, rather than quitting the game altogether, he will be starting a new career as a referee's assessor - which could see him show poor referees the red card.

Cottingham, pictured above, who played for Osbaldwick Miners, Strensall and Huntington Rovers before turning to his black kit, began his refereeing career in local Sunday league football.

He progressed up the ladder to the Northern Counties East League, and as such was deemed good enough to run the line at Pontin's League and Conference League games.

Since then, he has been linesman at North East, Merseyside and Sheffield derbies in the Pontin's League, and in his final season at that standard, ran the line at Bootham Crescent after taking over as fourth official in City's clash with Chesterfield.

He was also handed a linesman's role at the FA Umbro Trophy quarter-final.

He reverted back to local league after that and for the past six years has been taking charge of Leeper Hare York and District League games.

Although admitting his support for Leeds United, he said he was never biased, even when refereeing Leeds' intermediates matches.

"I was always impartial no matter what game it was," he said. "And I've always enjoyed it, whether they've been hard games or nice and steady ones."

l York referee Malcolm Sunderland, who has also just completed 25 years of officiating, has been appointed to take charge of this year's York and District FA Saturday Reserve Cup final.

That match, between Bishopthorpe United and Dunnington, takes place at York RI's New Lane ground on Wednesday, May 10 (kick off 7.30).

It will be the 58-year-old's fourth final as referee since moving to York in 1978, having also refereed three York FA Senior Cup finals, two of them at Bootham Crescent.

Huddersfield-born Sunderland began refereeing in Hertfordshire and Essex before moving to Sheffield and then York. He was appointed a class one referee in 1979.

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