I FIRST met John Motson back in the 1980s, when as chairman of Reading Referees Society, I invited him to be the guest speaker at one of our monthly meetings.

As one of the largest referee societies in the country, we always attracted top referees, but we also invited managers, players, club directors, football reporters and commentators, giving us a rounded view of how they saw referees.

John’s meeting was packed and a more popular and pleasanter personality you would never meet.

One thing he said has always stuck in my mind.

This was the thought television commentators and referees had something in common.

He said we both have to react instantly to what we see and so commentators say things, which afterwards might sound a little ridiculous.

Referees have to make instant decisions on incidents. which a replay may perhaps show they got it wrong.

My next contact with John was when in my weekly column, I corrected a view he had expressed about an offside decision during his commentary of a Premier League match.

To my surprise he telephoned me the following week.

John is renowned for carrying out extensive research and this was no exception.

He contacted a FIFA referee to check what I said was correct, before phoning me to admit he had got it wrong.

I got an even bigger surprise a few years later when he invited myself and my wife to a dinner in Hertfordshire.

It was to celebrate 50 years as a referee for his BBC colleague Bill Hamilton, who refereed wherever the BBC sent him around the world.

It was the first time I knew the FA gave medals for 50 years’ service as a referee, so I made enquiries. I finally received my own 50-year medal, 10 years late but that’s another story.

On his retirement after 50 years of commentating, my personal thanks go to John Motson and I was pleased to see he got his own version of a 50-year medal with a well-deserved BAFTA Award.