Ronald Challis was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 referee in the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

. During his time on the List he was based in Tonbridge

Tonbridge

Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

.

Career

Challis became a Football League referee in 1968 at the age of only thirty five. In 1975 he was senior linesman to Pat Partridge

Pat Partridge

Patrick "Pat" Partridge is a retired English football referee, and former President of the Association of Football League Referees and Linesmen. His occupation outside football was as a farmer. He originates from Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, and took the name of his father, Patrick Partridge,...

 for the FA Cup Final.^‡ He took charge of the Final itself in 1979. This match between Arsenal and Manchester United

Manchester United F.C.

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 is remembered for three goals being scored in the last four minutes, as United pulled level to two goals each, before Arsenal scored their winner.

He had two more years as a League referee before retiring in 1981.

Print

• Football League Handbooks, 1968–1970
• Rothmans Football Yearbooks, 1971–1981
• ^†Rothmans Football Yearbook (2001), Headline, p944 (approximate birthyear and month/year of death)
• ^‡Oh, Ref!, by Pat Partridge & John Gibson, (Souvenir Press Ltd 1979), ISBN 0285624237

Internet