By 
The seventies chart-topper ‘Nice One Cyril’ could have been penned in honour of Sion man, former goalkeeper and football referee, Cyril Walker!
The song, written by Harold Spiro and Helen Clarke and sung by Cockerel Chorus, was actually written to pay homage to Spurs left-back Cyril Knowles – now deceased – ahead of the 1973 English League Cup Final between Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City.
Knowles made more than 400 appearances for Spurs and played for England four times and while Walker, himself an avid Tottenham supporter, didn’t quite hit such dizzy heights as a player, there is no doubt that few have put as much back into the beautiful game as the affable north Tyrone man.
As a goalkeeper Cyril starred between the sticks for Ardstraw, local club Letterbin, Milltown, who used to play in the North West League, Irvinestown Wanderers and Dergview.
But it was with the whistle that Cyril really excelled. After completing a beginners’ refereeing course in 1986, Cyril went on to officiate at all levels of the local game and at all the major venues across the country including Windsor Park.
The Sion man has been involved in five Mulhern Cup and three Reihill Cup finals, refereed for twenty years at the Foyle Cup and fifteen at the Milk Cup, taking charge of two finals in 1999 and 2000.
A serious knee injury hampered Cyril’s progress at senior level and at one stage he seriously comtemplated retirement.
“Back in 2005 I informed the chairman of the Fermanagh and Western Referees’ Association, Basil Marshall that I was planning to retire,” recalled Cyril.
“Basil asked me to hold fire and to stay on and give him ‘a hand out’ that season. Twenty years later and I’m still giving him a hand out!”
This is Cyril’s 40th season as the man in the middle or running the line. On that particular journey he has made life-long frienships, logged numerous precious memories and encountered a plethora of great characters.
He also admits that he didn’t get every decision right!
“I awarded a goal to Dunbreen Rovers in a Fermanagh and Western League game against Barrowfield (which later amalgamated with Churchtown to form St Patrick’s Castlederg) on one occasion when the ball had actually gone through the side netting. Everyone in the ground saw that except me, of course. As you would imagine Seamus Coyle- the Barrowfield manager-wasn’t best pleased!”
That’s just one of many stories Cyril has lived to tell.
He continued, “I was running the line in an Irish League game between Coleraine and Glenavon when the Lurgan Blues striker Stephen Baxter (now manager of Carrick Rangers) went down in the penalty area just before the half-time interval.
“The referee George McCay, who was uptight at the best of times, came running over to me to ask if it was a penalty. I said it was and Glenavon duly scored.
“Coleraine manager Marty Quinn was incensed by the decision and at the interval we had to hold the door of the referee’s room to stop him coming in.
“On another occasion I awarded a penalty to Enniskillen Rangers in the dying moments of an important Mulhern Cup game against Dergview at Simpson’s Field out at Garvetagh. Rangers scored and won the game 1-0 and as I was walking off the field, I heard Roy Cathcart, the Rangers keeper, shouting, “watch out, watch out referee’. I turned around just in time to face Adrian Forbes coming at me with a linesman’s flag.
“The incident was over as quick as it happened and he duly apologised.”
Cyril had many a run-in with players, managers and officials across four decades but football being football many of those very same individuals have become valued and respected friends.
You’ll travel a very long distance to find someone who has a bad word to say about Cyril Walker, despite the fact that during his distinguished career and largely through no fault of his own, he often found himself in the eye of the storm.
That’s hardly surprising given that he was officiating at a time when there were some big characters involved in the Irish League.
And they didn’t come much bigger than former Omagh Town boss Roy McCreadie.
“I had many a scrape with McCreadie,” laughed Walker.
“Roy Walker, the former Crusaders manager, was another man who was hard to handle, as was Marty Quinn, Nigel Best.”
Apparently current Belfast Telegraph columnist and pundit, David Jeffrey, the former Linfield and Ballymena United manager, was no angel either!
“I used to remember after checking the players’ studs in the Linfield dressing room, Jeffrey would offer you a strong handshake accompanied by the words, ‘may God be with you!’
“If he thought you made a mistake a few minutes into a game big DJ soon changed his tune!”
Despite the occasional run-in, Cyril has loved every minute of his career as a whistler.
The good times far outweigh the bad and he has a few personal highlights that he will always cherish.
Among them running the line in the Omagh Town versus Chelsea game at St Julian’s Road in 1999 which was one of three glamour games organised to raise money for the Omagh Bomb Fund.
That same year the former BT employee refereed the Milk Cup Final between Crewe United and a Manchester United team which included in their ranks a young Darren Fletcher.
Twelve months later he was again the man in the middle at the Coleraine Showgrounds for the under-14 decider between West Ham United and Everton.
And Cyril is proud of the fact that he took charge of a few St Patrick’s games in the Brendan Keogh Youth League when turning out for the Castlederg side was a certain Conor Bradley, who has gone on to achieve great things with Liverpool and Northern Ireland.
All told it’s been quite career and in his 40th year it’s one Cyril looks back on with immense pride.
“I got to go to places and venues that I never thought I would,” added Cyril.
“I used to go to Windsor Park as a cub and never thought for one minute that one day I’d be running out to officiate a game there.
“The experiences, the great occasions, it was good to be part of so many.
“And the friendships I made with players, supporters and other referees, people like Terry Patterson, Frankie Roofe, Gerry Flynn, Jim Dunne, Clive Mitchell, so many people and too many to mention.
“I got to referee some great Irish League players, the likes of Linfield’s Noel Baillie, who in my opinion was the best ever.
“My first ever Irish League game was Glenavon against Bangor at Mourneview Park and the home side’s front three that day was Stephen McBride, Raymond McCoy and Glenn Ferguson!
“Refereeing was a great way to extend my footballing journey and I would highly recommend it to any one.
“The thing is there are more opportunities nowadays. If you take up the whistle early enough, you can go a very long way.
“You can go places, if you put the head down, work hard and train hard. It’s not always an easy road but it’s one worth travelling.”
