From the publisher:
They come out of the football stadium tunnel first, but all eyes are on the well-paid athletes behind them. No one pays the referee or the referee's assistants any attention - until they make a mistake. Then all hell breaks loose.
They can't explain - or defend themselves against the crowd's abuse. Gavin Muge threads an entertaining personal football memoir together with his own attempts to scale the peak of the professional game as a match official. His football life has led to encounters with a cast of stars from Gary Lineker to Paul Gascoigne, Arsene Wenger and Roy Keane.
He officiated at the infamous Riot of Upton Park in 2009 and has witnessed many examples of the darker side of the game. Gavin has also shared the excitement and the pain of the average football supporter and now has the experience to try to make sense of it all in My Life on the Line. See if you agree with him! And pit your knowledge against Gavin's with the book's Chapter Challenges and his Quiz.
The author:
Gavin Muge was born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, and grew up in nearby Chiltern Green. When he was five, he began his lifelong devotion to football, watching Match of the Day and The Big Match every weekend. His first live game confirmed his undying allegiance to Luton Town FC. Although a keen schoolboy player, he realised his talents would only take him so far and he started refereeing youth matches in the Luton area at the age of 15. This led to a passion for life with a whistle and a flag. A good job in sports and leisure management allowed him to pursue a parallel career in football, and after a lot of hard work he progressed through the ranks to reach the National List of Assistant Referees in 2008. In nine seasons on the Football League line, Gavin officiated in over 250 matches, experiencing the highs and lows of the professional game. He retired from the National List in 2017, happily returning to the lower levels of non-League football, and now helps to develop the next generation of referees as a Mentor for the Bedfordshire Football Association.
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