- Eric Clay
Eric Clay (
19 May ,1922 -3 October ,2007 ) was a British rugby league referee popularly known as "Sergeant Major" for his style during games.cite web |url= http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/eric-clay-397133.html|publisher= The Independent|title= Eric Clay |author=Dave Hadfield |accessdate=2008-07-19]Early life, private life
Born in
Leeds ,Yorkshire , Clay was married with two daughters. During theSecond World War , Clay was a Warrant Officer in the RAF.Professional career
A leading referee, Albert Dobson, suggested that Clay try refereeing. Aged 25, he began in the Leeds and District League in 1947.
It was while refereeing a reserve match as a curtain-raiser to the 1952
Challenge Cup semi-final that Clay's "authoritative presence" was noted. After that he was elevated quickly from Grade 5 to Grade 2, and took charge of his first senior games in 1953-54.Clay had a distinctive style. He was a "big, even heavy man, he did not race around the field like his modern successors, but he had a knack of being in the right place at the right time to defuse trouble, in a game that was much more violent then than it is now".
Clay became widely recognised due to his regular Saturday afternoon appearances on Grandstand during the 1960s, although he is often better remembered as the Sergeant Major. This nickname, conferred by broadcaster
Eddie Waring , "captured the way he controlled a game, like a battle-hardened veteran showing the raw recruits who was in charge".Two of the major games refereed by Clay were Challenge Cup finals at Wembley, between Wakefield and Hull in 1960 and Featherstone and Barrow in 1967. These are the only two Cup finals to have been attended by the Queen.
Clay was the referee when Great Britain last won the Ashes on home soil in 1959.
Clay was also popular in
France , where he was asked to officiate the final of the 1967Lord Derby Cup between Carcassonne andXIII Catalan inPerpignan .1963 Ashes
Clay's most controversial match was the third test of the 1963 Ashes series between Great Britain and Australia in which the two sides set about settling scores and the Australians felt Clay was biased. It is considered was one of the most brutal Tests ever played, with two Australians and one British player, Cliff Watson, being sent off.
Retirement from Rugby League
After his retirement from refereeing, Clay concentrated on his other job as company secretary of an engineering firm in Leeds. Despite his name remaining one of the best-known in the game, he was rarely seen at rugby league events. There was one exception to that - when Alex Murphy was appointed OBE in 1999, he insisted on the man who sent him off three times accompanying him to
Buckingham Palace as one of his guests.Death
Eric Clay died in Wheatfields Hospice, Leeds after a short illness. He was 85.cite web |url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/dec/10/guardianobituaries.rugbyleague|publisher= The Guardian|title= Eric Clay |author=Andy Wilson |accessdate=2008-07-19] A funeral service was held at Rawdon Crematorium on Friday, October 12 at 12.20pm.cite web |url= http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/Saints-are-heralded-at-awards.3359736.jp|publisher= Yorkshire Post|title= Saints are heralded at awards ceremony |author=John Ledger |accessdate=2008-07-19]
"Even though he had been retired from refereeing for 35 years by the time of his death, "Sergeant Major" Eric Clay remained the most memorable and instantly recognisable figure ever to officiate at rugby league matches in Britain".
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
