Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Mon Jan 23, 2023 5:03 pm  

Remember him refereeing in the '80's and IMO was probably the best referee of his time...R.I.P.

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Mon Jan 23, 2023 5:10 pm  

RIP. Even when fans were bawling and shouting and sulking about decisions against their teams they knew he was fair. And deep down they knew he was probably right too.

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Mon Jan 23, 2023 5:18 pm  

One of the best and always the first choice ref for the top games. I think he also broke the mould and was the first of the modern day refs in that he was very fit and could keep up with play.Many refs back then had huge bellies and could hardly run. very sad news.

As an aside I was talking to a bloke the other day and we both said that it's a pity he was a Wakey lad because back then he could never ref Trinity games. We used to get some right rubbish refs, very much like now,

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:15 pm  

Sad news. Was rightly thought of as the top ref of his era and having Wakefield attached to his name gave us all a bit of pride.

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:46 pm  

RIP Fred,
He was a genuinely good man, a friend, a role model and a source of encouragement for thousands of young Rugby players making their first forays into the game at Eastmoor.

Some will rate his Refereeing career differently but he was hard & fair, knew the rules but more importantly he knew the boundaries of fair play and respect while officiating.

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Mon Jan 23, 2023 8:45 pm  

One of those referees from a golden era of men in the middle. Sadly, because of the rules at the time, we never got to see him officiate at a Trinity game.

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:12 pm  

Oddly… for someone who was very active in Wakey amateur RL during the late 70s and 80s… I never met Fred.

And as he never refereed Trinity .. I only ever saw him on TV…

There are only a few ‘merry whistle blowers’ who last in the memory.. and from my era he … Billy Thompson and Mick Naughton are some of those few

Fred and David Oxley in just a few days…

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:43 pm  

Spookisback wrote:

There are only a few ‘merry whistle blowers’ who last in the memory.. and from my era he … Billy Thompson and Mick Naughton are some of those few

…

Naughton was the first ref I suspected of having a permanent grudge against Wakefield. He stitched us up on a regular basis. From Widnes if I remember rightly.

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Tue Jan 24, 2023 5:15 am  

Very sad news. I remember him disallowing me a try for Crigglstone at U11’s against Eastmoor. I was most aggrieved at the time. He was invited to our end of year do where my dad made me go and have a word with him about it for a joke. He was most apologetic and gave me some RL stickers from his pocket. Made my night and was a true gentleman to talk to.
RIP Mr Lindop, true gent as I remember.

Re: Fred Lindop - sadly passed away : Tue Jan 24, 2023 7:16 am  

When I first moved to Wakefield in 1975 I knew little about Trinity. They were famous to me but in a distant way. Yet hand on heart I heard Fed Lindop’s name long before I knew any of the players from that era.

That’s quite an impact for a ref to make.