football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
referee
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
.
In 1894 he officiated (most of) the '
Game of three halves
The "Game of Three Halves" was the name given to a football match played between Sunderland and Derby County on the opening day of the 1894–95 English football season.
Derby had travelled to Sunderland on 1 September for their first round fixt ...
' between
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
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 ...
season, instructing that the full match should be played after one half had already been completed in his absence due to missing a train.
At the end of the first match in the 1902 Cup Final between Sheffield United and Southampton, United's goalkeeper William Foulke, unhappy with one of his decisions, left his dressing room unclothed and pursued Kirkham, who took refuge in a broom cupboard. Foulke had to be stopped by a group of FA officials from wrenching the cupboard door from its hinges to reach the referee.
Kirkham also refereed the replay, which Sheffield United won 2–1.
He also refereed the international match between Scotland and Ireland on 21 March 1903, followed by the matches between Scotland and Wales on 12 March 1904 and between Scotland and Ireland on 18 March 1905.
He is often confused with Fred Kirkham (from
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...