Kirkliston is rightly proud of the notable footballers it has produced - pride of place going to Bobby Moncur, captain of Newcastle United and Scotland. What may be less well known is that at one time it could also boast a top class referee, the late John Gaffney of Almondside, well known locally through working in Kirkliston Distillery and as part time barman in the Newliston Arms Hotel. Between 1947 and 1952 he was a Grade 1 referee who took charge of matches at all the major grounds in Scotland including Ibrox and Parkhead. This postwar era was a boom time for football in Scotland. There was enormous appetite for the game and crowds were huge. His son, John Jnr, who still lives in the village, takes up the story: "My dad started refereeing young due to a leg injury that put paid to him playing. He began in the West Lothian Churches League and graduated to the juveniles and juniors.
John Gaffney, early 1950's. (The stray leg, bottom right, belongs to John Higgins who played for Celtic at that time.)
Then came the war and enlistment into the Royal Artillery. Among other places, he served during the Blitz in London and was later promoted to sergeant.
Royal Artillery insignia
Once war was over, he resumed refereeing and reached Grade 1 status in 1947. His first match as a top grade official was at the old Cathkin Park, then home to the now defunct Third Lanark who were playing Aberdeen. The well known football writer of the time, Alan Breck, reported favourably on my dad's debut commenting that: 'Mr Gaffney did not shirk from the difficult decisions, unlike some of his colleagues.'"
John's refereeing credentials received another boost early in his career which was reported in the Linlithgowshire Gazette on Friday,15th October 1948. After an old First Division match between Queen of the South and Partick Thistle in Dumfries which Queens won, McGowan the Thistle skipper congratulated him on his handling of the game, despite having lost the match.
Alan Breck was indeed a top football writer in The Evening Times and published various books on the sport. The article on the left is from a local newspaper.
Cathkin Park - then and now. The ground, not much more than a stone's throw from Hampden Park, fell into decline after Third Lanark AC went out of business in 1967. It is still used for minor football games.
John Jnr was then a "fitba' daft" ten year old, a condition that only worsened as his dad took him to a number of games where he was officiating. Young John thoroughly enjoyed these outings and managed to watch many of the top names of the day, occasionally meeting some after the game. Unsurprisingly this was the "talk of the playground" among John's equally "fitba daft" schoolmates at Winchburgh. Being a Hibs fan, his stand-out memory was being introduced to the "Famous Five", Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull and Ormond, with each of them signing his prized autograph book.
Although it is a cliché to say things were different back then, they certainly were in football. Refereeing rotas were issued six weeks in advance to facilitate travel plans as very few people had cars - a trip to Aberdeen then was quite an undertaking. Fellow distillery employee Jim Dawson did have a car and would occasionally give John Snr a lift to matches in Central Scotland, sometimes with local players Rennie Logan and Jimmy Masterton, then playing for Falkirk and Alloa Athletic respectively.
The home club was responsible then for paying the referee his fee which was about £5, but the referee's fee was not always cash. Musselburgh Charities Sports five-a-side competition was a big event in those days with senior teams such as Hearts, Hibs, Falkirk and others taking part. Mr Gaffney's fee for refereeing it one year was a biro pen in a presentation, this being the year the biro had been invented! It was also the practice, recalls John Jnr, for the referee to be provided with a bottle of beer at half time and, if it were a cold day, a dram! Irrespective of the weather, at full time, a dram was always provided!
An early biro ballpoint pen, c 1945. A biro cost 55 shillings back then. This would be equivalent to £2.75 in money today. However, after adjusting for inflation this would equate to about £133 sterling!
"Official" referee training then consisted of a Tuesday night session at Tynecastle, although Mr Gaffney supplemented this with runs round by the Wheatlands and Carlowrie, sometimes crossing the Boathouse Bridge to continue along the old Turnhouse road. Compare that with the modern day state of the art computerised training programmes referees now have to undertake!
One aspect of the game that has not changed is the passion of the fans. John Jnr remembers, about 1949, being in the stand at Dens Park as his dad took charge of Dundee FC v Third Lanark. This was the very first day of the operation of the new advantage rule. "With a few minutes to go Dundee were leading 1-0. Thirds launched an attack which a home defender tried to stop with a crude foul. My dad played advantage and Thirds went on to equalise. Well, the Dundee fans went absolutely wild, screaming for a foul and threatening all sorts of unmentionable things to my dad. I really didn't think we would get away in one piece. My mum, who had been listening on the radio at home became very alarmed and was hugely relieved to see us walk back through the door. And once after refereeing at Bo'ness United, the home fans were so incensed with some of his decisions they tried to rip off his tunic as he left the field."
Allowing for such incidents, at least the fans' passions here was generally kept within reasonable bounds. The same could not be said for South America. In about 1950, Mr Gaffney received an offer to go to Bogota, Colombia as a full time referee with the promise of a fantastic salary. This was the same time as British players such as Bobby Flavell of Hearts and Neil Franklin of Stoke City went out there lured by big money. However, the downside was that referees had been shot by the highly volatile fans there, and Mr Gaffney decided, tempting though the money was, that for once the grass was definitely greener at home!
Through training at Tynecastle Mr Gaffney would meet players training there part time. One whom he came to know quite well was Willie Woodburn of Rangers and Scotland fame. This could make refereeing him a bit awkward which meant that any time Mr Gaffney had to remonstrate with Willie he always did so rather theactrically for the crowd's benefit, to avoid any suggestion of favouritism. One lasting memory from his Tynecastle days was being given a drink out of the Scottish Cup when it was brought down to training following the Hearts win in 1956.
After five years at the top level John Snr dropped down to the Juniors where he continued to officiate for a number of years. After that, maintaining the football connection, he became a part time pools collector for Littlewoods, initially in Kirkliston and then covering West Lothian, ably assisted by son John.
John Jnr recalls his father being a very fair referee who played it "right down the middle, maybe only lacking a little diplomacy at times." A cherished memento of his dad's career is his silver 'Acme Thunderer' whistle, stamped 'LNER' (London and North Eastern Railway). Of unknown provenance, it had at one time controlled steam train traffic pounding up and down Britain's east coast, but under Mr Gaffney's charge its shrill blast heralded match changing decisions and aroused fans' passions in huge crowds as far apart as Pittodrie and Palmerston Park and many other venues in between.
Jack Davidson
Kirkliston Heritage Society
SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
John Gaffney Jnr
refereeingworld.blogspot.com
Time Magazine
Wikipedia