ALMOST certainly one of the oldest and longest-serving sports administrators in Cornwall if not the entire country, Gerald Sobey has decided it really is time to blow the whistle on his distinguished career in football.

Gerald is one of the most highly-respected officials on the Cornish football circuit and has informed the Trelawny Football League that he will not be seeking re-election at the league’s annual general meeting at the end of this month.

It was a decision that he had made once before – two years ago.

Gerald said: “I was really unwell with cancer at the time, but I received superb treatment from the hospital doctors who managed to make me feel well again.

“At the annual meeting the league couldn’t find anyone to take on the role I had vacated, so I agreed to carry on. It wasn’t a decision that I regretted, but I am 87 years old in July and I think it is now the right time to stand down.”

He insists there will be no change of heart this time.

Gerald is a vice-president of the Cornwall FA and has been involved in all aspects of football, but his decision signals the end of an amazing 70-year football career spanning eight decades of dedication as a player, club secretary, secretary of two leagues, league fixture secretary, a referee and referee appointments officer.

Before his national service, Gerald, who lives in Mawgan, near Helston, kicked off his playing career in 1947-48 as a goalkeeper with Mawgan United and when he returned from duty he continued to play for the club.

“I helped form Mawgan United and played for three seasons – well I was signed on for three seasons,” he said. “I couldn't get a regular game, basically because I wasn't any good.”

Realistically this was the beginning of the end of his playing career and despite being so young it was then he first started life as an administrator, albeit in a minor role.

Gerald was secretary of Mawgan for a couple of years, but in 1953, when he was 23, Edward Noye persuaded him to take up refereeing.

He enjoyed a long career as a man in black and it was fitting his final official game was in 1974 when he refereed the representative fixture between the Cornwall Combination League and the East Cornwall Premier League.

He had also refereed all the local cup finals as well as being the referee for the Easter Monday Finals runners-up match between St Austell and Saltash and the Cornwall Junior Cup Final runners-up game between Constantine and St Lawrence's Hospital.

As well as refereeing, Gerald also became involved in administration and in 1954 joined the Helston and District Football League committee and a year later became the referees' appointments secretary for the league.

He held that role until the league amalgamated with the Falmouth and District Football League in 1960-61 and a year later he became the league secretary, a position he held until 1984-85 when he stood down because he found the increased workload of the Cornwall Referees' Appointments Board's secretary for the western area of the county extremely time consuming.

He was persuaded to return to the league committee in 1988 to fill the secretary’s post vacated by Neil MacDonald, a position he then held until the league amalgamated with the Mining Division League in 2011-12.

When this happened, Gerald, despite being in his 80s, maintained his involvement and took on the role of fixtures secretary.

“I have enjoyed every minute of it and would do it all over again,” he said. “I have made many friends over the years and it has been very satisfying to see how much the game has grown.

“I just wish that I was a bit younger so that I could carry on, but that is not going to happen and I know that now is the right time to step down.

“I wish the league every success and hope that it continues to prosper in the future.”