They come out of the football stadium's tunnel first, but all eyes are on the well-paid athletes behind them. No one pays the Referee or the Referee's Assistants any attention, until they make a mistake. Then all hell breaks loose.
They can't explain or defend themselves against the crowd's abuse. And these days their decisions can be reversed by the dreaded VAR. Who would want the high-pressure job of running the line in professional football?
Gavin Muge for one, and in “My Life on the Line”, he threads a personal football memoir together with his own attempts to scale the peak of the professional game which led to encounters with a cast of stars from Gary Lineker to Paul Gascoigne, Arsene Wenger and Roy Keane. He officiated at the infamous Riot of Upton Park in August 2009 and has witnessed many examples of the darker side of the game.
After nine seasons on the National List of Assistant Referees, Gavin has pretty much seen it all and has his own unique take on the modern game. My Life on the Line is a must for would-be officials but will have a wider appeal to the hundreds of thousands of fans who loyally follow their clubs up and down the country every weekend.
Gavin has shared the excitement and the pain of the average football supporter and now has the experience to try to make sense of it all. See if you agree with him!
