John Holdsworth

[Jimmy DoNut]

Heard today of the sad passing of ex ref John Holdsworth. Yes of course we all remember the semi-final, but came as a shock when I heard. RIP John.

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

RIP. Sad loss but I'll never ever forget or forgive that decision. 

[DaveButt]

RIP John, always respected him as a great ref. As an outsider could you please enlighten me on 'That decision'

[shrewsbury roughyed]

4 hours ago, DaveButt said:

RIP John, always respected him as a great ref. As an outsider could you please enlighten me on 'That decision'

Mate...you don't know what you've started!!! 

Come on, folks, enlighten him...

[DaveButt]

I gather you don't know either Shrewsbury Roughyed

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

12 hours ago, DaveButt said:

RIP John, always respected him as a great ref. As an outsider could you please enlighten me on 'That decision'

1990. Challenge cup semi final v Warrington. We were in the second division, however we were anything but a second division team. We had previously beat first division teams including ,in the previous round, Widnes. Widnes who had Jonathan Davis, martin offiah et al. To cut a long story short, ten minutes to go we were 4 points behind. Mike Ford chips the ball forward, winger Paul lord , arguably the fastest player on the pitch, picks up the ball to touch down, thus levelling the score. It only needed Duncan Platt to convert sending us to Wembley for the first time. We had won the cup three times pre Wembley. 

But wait , the referee disallowed the try, saying lordy was off side. Although the TV replay is inconclusive it does show that the referee was unsighted and unable to see lordy , as John cogger was in the way. The referee was later reported as saying he disallowed the try because he thought no one was that fast. 

It can be argued that had we gone to Wembley, on the same weekend Oldham athletic played notts forest in the league club, then maybe we wouldn't be in the dire situation we are now.

[Jimmy DoNut]

57 minutes ago, DaveButt said:

I gather you don't know either Shrewsbury Roughyed

Good memory AoHaF. Though I thought it was less than 10 minutes from time. In terms of forgiving Mr Holdsworth, he can't possibly have known for sure because it was tight, inconclusive on TV as you say. And there was no get-out of a video ref of course. He had to make a decision on the spot. Just so damn frustrating it went against us. Of course had it been a normal league match, it would have been long forgotten. We all remember it because it meant so much to us. 

I've heard it said that if Offiah had scored it, rather than Lordy, he probably would have given it. Perhaps Paul wasn't well enough known within the game, but we know how quick he was, especially over a short distance.

Anyway, it happened and it doesn't take away the fact that Mr Holdsworth was an excellent referee, well respected by players as many have paid tribute to him on social media. 

RIP John Holdsworth

[ArthurO]

22 hours ago, The Art of Hand and Foot said:

RIP. Sad loss but I'll never ever forget or forgive that decision. 

That makes two of us that'll never forget or forgive that decision.

[fiftiesremembered]

Tough even reading that again.I was there but not in the right spot to be 100% - but enough people were.                                 

Two heartache moments that and the Swinton 'floodlights'

 

[parigby]

Don't get me started on the bloody floodlights.

[jroyales]

Sorry to hear of the death of another RL character. Just hope for his sake St.Peter isn't an Oldham fan.

RIP John.

[il cattivo]

also wasn't he the referee during the infamous 'battle in the snow' at Mount pleasant in the Regal Trophy game,when he sent off Cogger for gesticulating at the crowd after Paul Round had scored a try? Cogger had 'allegedly' had his mullet pulled by one of our female stewards a few moments earlier after a melee on the touchline...

we beat you in the last minute with our player coach Keith Rayne getting a hat trick of tries...think that was 1990/91?