Colin Ward has been a football referee for more than 30 years.

The just-turned 62-year-old took up the whistle in his late 20s and still referees three or four games every week.

He’s also referees’ appointments officer for both the Stroud League and the Northern Senior League, so clearly knows what it takes to be the man in the middle.

“I remember what my referees’ instructor told me all those years ago,” said Ward. “He said, ‘There are 17 laws in football but the most important is the 18^th – common sense’.”

That is something that has stuck with Ward for well over three decades after he decided to stop kicking a ball and instead stop players from kicking each other.

That’s not always easy, of course, so why did Ward become a referee?

“I’d stopped enjoying playing football,” he said. “I was captain of Nuclear Sports who played in the Stroud League, they’re disbanded now.

“I took a referees’ course out of curiosity. I used to moan a lot at referees so I thought it would be interesting.

“Once I started refereeing I found I enjoyed it more than playing football.

“It was nice to give something back to the game and people do appreciate it.”

And he’s giving something back every weekend – as well as some midweek evenings – because he referees in the Stroud League, the Northern Senior League and the Cheltenham Youth League, as well as ladies’ and veterans’ matches.

Ward, a former Berkeley Vale School pupil who these days lives in Cam, is a Level 5 senior county referee.

“I’ve only refereed once at a Football League club,” he said. “It was at Swindon Town, a county youth cup final between two Frampton teams.

“It was a great big stadium and the facilities were amazing. It was a good night, a very good experience.”

So how does Ward like to referee games?

“I like to talk to the players,” he said. “I like a bit of banter, it helps to break down barriers.

“But I won’t have backchat, I won’t have anyone challenging my authority.

“There are certain words I won’t tolerate, I will never accept anyone calling me a cheat. It’s a word I detest, the worst thing you can say to a referee.

“Anyone who says that to me is immediately sent off.”

At the time of writing, Ward hadn’t shown anyone a red card this season, but he‘s certainly not one to shy away from making the tough decisions.

“If someone commits a foul and you warn them that if they do it again you’ll book them, you have to book them if they do it again,” he said.

“You have to apply the laws of the game. If someone throws a punch they’re walking.

“I once sent someone off after 48 seconds, I had no choice, they handled the ball on the goal line.

“But if it’s a more questionable challenge, that’s different, that’s where you have to use your common sense.”

So, who make the best referees?

“Ex-players,” said Ward without a moment’s hesitation. “If you’ve played the game for 20 years, you’ve got plenty of experience to fall back on.

“Everyone will referee slightly differently but former players usually use more common sense.”

There’s that term again, but Ward is keen to stress that it’s not just experienced former players who he believes make good officials.

“There are exceptions,” he continued. “We’ve got some young lads coming through who are quite good.”

That’s great news for football in the area, of course, and Ward would like to encourage more people to give it a try.

“Our biggest problem is recruiting referees and keeping them,” said Ward, who works as an engineer.

“The Stroud League offer a very good incentive to new referees. If anyone does the course and then referees 15 games, the league will reimburse them their course fee.”

Ward referees around 15 games every month, of course, so how long does he intend to keep on going?

“For a few more years yet,” he said. “It is getting tougher. The mind is keen but the body is telling me to slow down.

“I’ll keep doing it for as long as I can.”