Keith Edwin Walker (21 December 1930 – 15 May 1996) was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

referee. Known for his strictness he was considered one of the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

's top referees. He was born in Manchester but moved to Blackpool where he started his refereeing career after playing as a goalkeeper for Lytham in the Lancashire Combination. After officiating in the Lancashire Combination, Irish League and Central League he became a Football League linesman in 1959 and was promoted to the Referees List two years later aged only 30. He had a season based in Preston (1965-1966) before in 1967 moving from Blackpool, where he worked as civil defence instructor, to the village of Bearsted near

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Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, where he worked for Kent County Council as estates administrative officer, becoming promoted to Senior Educational Administrative Officer. He officiated the Northern Irish Cup Final 1968 in which

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from

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defeated their city rivals

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2–0. In the First Division he gained some notoriety, after he sent off the

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player

Derek Dougan Alexander Derek Dougan (20 January 1938 – 24 June 2007) was a Northern Ireland international footballer, football manager, football chairman, pundit, and writer. He was also known by his nickname, "The Doog". He was capped by Northern ...

for remarks he made towards a linesman in the match against

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in early October 1969 causing unrest on the stands occasioning injury to 84 people. Dougan was later banned for eight weeks, which was a post-war record. From 1970 to 1972 he was also on the FIFA list. His first match as head-referee on international level was in 1970 a match of the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

. In 1972 he also officiated a match of the European Champions' Cup. On national team level he officiated in October and November 1972 two qualification matches for the World Cup 1974 in which Yugoslavia drew with Spain and Belgium drew with Netherlands. Earlier that year he also was referee in three matches of the

Brazilian Independence Cup The Brazil Independence Cup was an international association football, football tournament held in Brazil, from 11 June to 9 July 1972, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Brazilian Declaration of Independence. It was called the ''Minicopa ...

, up to then the biggest tournament of national teams ever. His highlight there was the match between Argentina and Uruguay. He also served there as linesman under head referee Abraham Klein in the final, in which Brazil prevailed 1–0 over Portugal. In late October 1972 he announced his retirement from refereeing to take up the post of secretary with

Sheffield United F.C. Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, which was remunerated with £6.000 annually, in January 1973. He stayed there until the end of 1978. In January 1979 he joined with an initial three year in January 1973 the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

as head of officials. There he replaced Eddie Pearson, another former English referee, who had served in this position since 1973, who died from a car accident. After the collapse of the NASL he took on the job of secretary of the newly founded

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

.Colin Gibson: ''US put their L-plates on'', The Daily Telegraph (London, England), 4 June 1990, p. 42 After his return to England he held positions with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

Print

*Football League Handbooks, 1959–1972 *Football League Review 1967, volume 2, number 9

Internet

*
Keith Walker referee profile
at EU-Football.info *
Whistle for Time (Gone By)..
Memorabilia relating to Keith Walker (on

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)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Keith English Football League referees 1930 births 1996 deaths