Pat Partridge
| Born |
30 June 1933 Billingham, , England, UK |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Died | 31 October 2014 (aged 81) Cockfield, County Durham, England, UK |
||
| Other occupation | Farmer | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1957-58 | North Eastern League | Referee | |
| 1958-65 | Northern League | Referee | |
| 1965-66 | Football League | Linesman | |
| 1966-81 | Football League | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1971-80 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
Patrick Partridge, BEM (30 June 1933 – 31 October 2014) was an English football referee, and former President of the Association of Football League Referees and Linesmen. His occupation outside football was as a farmer.
He originated from Billingham, , and had the same name as his father, Patrick Partridge, MBE.
He first became a referee in 1953, with the Durham County FA. During his period of compulsory National Service (1954–1956), he registered as an Army referee; during a military posting to Hong Kong, he was allowed to officiate in that country's Third and Fourth Divisions. Partridge returned to England and, for a short time from 1957, was appointed to referee games in the now-defunct North Eastern League. Following its disbandment in 1958, he moved to the Northern League to develop his career further. He was accepted as a Football League linesman for the 1965-66 season, and progressed to become a Football League referee in the following year.
In his 1979 co-authored biography with John Gibson, he recalled his first ever top-class Football League match as man-in-the-middle, when he awarded three penalty kicks in the game between Manchester City and Leicester City at Maine Road in March 1967, which Leicester won 3-1.
He also recounts a chain of events which led to a major change in the International Laws of Association Football. On 13 May 1967, Stoke City visited Old Trafford to play Manchester United, just after United had been confirmed as the old Division One champions. Paddy Crerand of United had an altercation with Peter Dobing of Stoke. Unknown to Partridge, TV cameras picked up Crerand's action of spitting over his shoulder at Tony Allen, another Stoke player. Partridge later received a letter from Alan Hardaker, the then secretary of the Football League, asking for his observations on the incident, but was unable to respond with conclusive evidence. Nevertheless the International Board changed the Laws of the Game to put spitting on a par with violent conduct, and therefore a dismissible offence.
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