Thomas Gee Delahunty (28 July 1935 – 14 October 2018) was a British-born New Zealand

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 ...

(soccer) referee, who was a

FIFA referee This is a list of current FIFA international referees. Years in brackets indicate when the referee was added to the FIFA International Referees List. Afghanistan Men's Referees * Halim Shirzad (2019) Assistant Referees * Nangyal ...

from 1968–1984.

Early life

Delahunty was born on 28 July 1935 in Withington,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. He initially played football (soccer) as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, but stopped after dislocating his fingers aged 14. At the age of 20, Delahunty moved to New Zealand, and he became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1981.

Career

Delahunty decided to take up refereeing aged 18. He worked for two years in Manchester, and continued after moving to New Zealand. From 1968 until 1984, Delahunty was a FIFA international referee. In total, he refereed 19 international matches, including a number of New Zealand home internationals during the 1970s. From 1970, Delahunty worked as a referee for the newly formed New Zealand National Soccer League, and also refereed two Chatham Cup finals. Delahunty retired from refereeing in 1984. In 1999, Delahunty was inducted into the New Zealand Soccer Hall of Fame.

Death

Delahunty died in a nursing home in

Waikanae Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kapiti Coast, 60 kilometres north of the Wellington CBD. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the grey mullet". The town lies between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Ōtak ...

on 14 October 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delahunty, Tom 1935 births 2018 deaths People from Withington British emigrants to New Zealand British football referees New Zealand association football referees Naturalised citizens of New Zealand Sportspeople from Manchester