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First ever black Premier League Referee he certainly cut his own niche' in the football/refereeing world.
A giant of a man and very athletic indeed, not sure which art but he was a black belt holder in some contact sport. Don't recall any footballer challenging him on his day and I think his sheer presence and size explained why.
His medical decline was pretty rapid and his explanation on it sounded very painful.
RIP Uriah.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/c0mr7xlmkxyo
Also magistrate in Sheffield. Kick boxing. Always thought he was one of the better refs. RIP.
RIP Uri.
A throughly nice decent guy.
When he lived on Moorgate getting over a serious knee injury he was a regular customer of ours
buying gifts and handmade cards for his 3 great kids and family. The only time I knew him to be anoyed was a coule of days
after Howard Webb refed the world cup final he was really upset with the Dutch teams behavour for spoiling Howards bid day.
It was a real pleasure to have Known him.
A great ref and on the couple of occasions I met him was a really nice guy. RIP
Great post. RIP Uriah. Way, way too young.Quote:
Originally Posted by craftymiller
Indeed, he opened the doors to Reffing for other black people to get more involved. When you cast your mind back to the when he first started, what's the betting he got the stick from the stands just for his colour but he ignored that and got on with it all.Quote:
Originally Posted by ragingpup
Listening to Radio Sheffield last night and and Keith Hackett spoke of his last game where Uriah ran one of the lines for him. It was an International game and on the final whistle, some of the crowd ran straight towards Uriah. Hackett thinking something was about to kick off ran over to him only to see people thrusting out their hands to shake Uriah's hand thanking him for being a brave black official from England when the world was still so toxic towards coloured people. Speaks volumes that does.
In my refereeing days I ran the line on the Northern Premier League and lined a time or 2 for Uri when he was on the way up the refereeing ladder. Outstanding referee and gone way too soon, R.I.P. Uri.