My outstanding memory of Headingley is of a relatively obscure A team match , Leeds A v Batley, played one evening in September 1973. It won't mean much to anyone else, but it's memorable to me because it was only my second appointment in the professional ranks as a referee (my first had been just under a year earlier, Keighley A v Huddersfield and the least said about that, the better). The match at Headingley had even more poignancy for me because I was, at the time, working at Leeds Polytechnic, alongside Patsy Carter, the wife of Bill, the Leeds club secretary, as well as a goodly bunch of Leeds supporters, who all came along to make sure I did a good job.
I turned up at the ground unbelievably early and walked around the pitch, amazed at the immaculate playing surface, before sitting in the referee's changing room, trying not to let my 23 year old nerves get the better of me. My nerves we're not helped when Bill Carter came in and told me there were about 1000 in the ground (Leeds drew that number for an average A team crowd then) and handed me the Leeds team sheet, and I found that not only was notorious hard man Tony Fisher hooking for Leeds, but Steve Pitchford and Bill Ramsey were his props.
I needn't have worried. Both teams behaved fairly immaculately, with the previously mentioned Mr Fisher, captain for the night, helping out by calming things down when required. Leeds gradually built up their lead, scoring 9 tries to win 29-0 (strangely, they kicked only one goal all night) and my main job was to keep things moving and judge off-sides, knock-ons and forward passes (in fact my one controversial decision was to disallow a try by Leeds scrum half David Barends for a forward pass).
After what seemed like only a few minutes, I was blowing the final whistle and heading back to the changing rooms, shaking hands with one of my schoolboy heroes, Leeds coach Lewis Jones on the way.
Ron Needham
Memory added on September 13, 2012
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