Yorkshire referee who is the oldest in the country shows no signs of slowing down - at 90

Frank Foster, from Sheffield has a proud record that has seen him take charge of more than 5,000 games in 43 years.

He started refereeing in November 1980 and still officiates men's, women's and children's games around three times a week for the Sheffield and Hallamshire FA.

But the great-grandfather-of-four says he's determined to be dishing out red and yellow cards “forever”.

Frank said: “I just love it, this will be my 44th year of refereeing. I just love being outside in the fresh air. If there’s no referees, then there's no football. I'll be going forever, you live one life and you've got to do what you can while your alive. Do what you can, while you can – your body will tell you when to stop.

“Obviously I can't run as fast when I was playing football and when I first started refereeing.

“But I can anticipate a move and I'll go with it. I'm up and down like a yo-yo – I sometimes tell people that I'll need a moped.”

Frank played football with Bamford FC but had to stop in the early 1950s when he injured his knee.

He then decided to take up coaching and refereeing, and passed his referee exam with the Sheffield County FA in 1980.

Frank says he’s actually “a bit strict” with the players and will go “straight in and sort them out” if any problems occur.

He said: “I love it because you’re making the players abide to the rules. I always talk to both teams and tell them to be careful with their tackles and tell them there's no pushing or arguing.

“I always say I'll go straight in and sort them out. I also tell them to not stop playing football, as if I don't blow my whistle then it means I don't agree with them.

“If a player’s parent is shouting, then I ignore it but if they continue then I'll go up to them and say “no more” or tell them that I’ll send them away. Then if they don't go away, then I’ll stop the match which I've had to do twice.”

Frank is believed to be the oldest referee in the UK and says people sometimes comment on his age after matches. Even though he celebrated the milestone birthday in June last year, the nonagenarian normally pretends he is younger than what he actually is if people ask. He said: “Normally when a match is finished, people will approach me and ask how old I am. I normally say 'how old do you think I am?' and usually they seem to be polite and say I'm 67.

Frank, a Sheffield United fan, watches the sport on TV “all the time” but says he often sits there and “disagrees” with the refereeing.

He said: “You can see that they are offside but the linesman doesn't flag it, they carry on and score and then they put the flag up. To me, that causes more aggravation than stopping them because they've scored.”