Football Poem

[Simbio]

Hey Guys,

Years back at a clinic, I remember a speaker sharing a poem about officiating. I can't remember the whole content of the poem, but it was moving. It seems like the last line was "only God can referee" or "only God is the referee."

Anyone have a copy they can paste on here, or a link they could send me to? I've tried googling it and came up empty handed (there's a lot of dirty limmericks about soccer referees though.)

[TXMike]

I think that I shall never see
A satisfactory referee.
About who's head a halo shines
Whose merits rate reporters lines
One who call them as they go
Whose whistle doesn't often blow.
Oh poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can referee.

OR

"I think that I shall never see a satisfactory referee,

one who calls them as they are, and not as I would have by far. A gent who bends

not either way but lets the kids decide the play. Poems are made by fools like me,

but only God can referee."

[Simbio]

That's it. Thank you so much.

One of my long time football officiating friends is on his death bed right now with pancreatic cancer. He only has a few days left at the most. We had a benefit dinner for him and I was thinking of sharing that poem. We've decided to make it an annual thing in his honor, raising money for cancer research. We raised about $3500.

His son is now my brother in law (I introduced him to my wife's sister.) They're really more like family than just friends. He officiated for 26 years and is well loved and respected by all the officials here in Utah.

Thanks again. I'll make sure I save it this time.