IT’S no surprise at all that former Premiership referee Mark Halsey is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro where he will oversee a football match for charity.

Mark, from Little Lever, not only managed some of the game’s most contentious matches but also successfully battled cancer with strength and dignity.

He was diagnosed with non-Hodkins Lymphoma nine months after his wife, Michelle, was diagnosed with leukaemia and they fought their battles together.

Now, he’s off to Africa’s highest mountain and to referee a full 90-minute match at the summit. It’s a certainty Mark will do it and I’m sure many wish him well.