TRIBUTES have been paid to long-serving Bolton football referee and cricket umpire Clive Knott who has died.

Former school teacher Mr Knott, aged 72, had been ill in hospital for the last three months.

A well-known figure in Bolton football and cricket circles, the Great Lever man commanded respect from players of both sports for the way he handled games.

It is rare for someone to referee or umpire for more than 40 years and Mr Knott is understood to have been unique in doing it in both sports.

He umpired in the Bolton League from 1974 and was a life member of the Bolton Referees' Society.

A class one referee he officiated in a number of leagues including the Bolton Boys Federation, the Bolton Sports Federation, the Bolton Combination, Lancashire League and latterly in five-a-side leagues in Bolton and was a linesman in the North West Counties League.

Born in Swinton he lived in Bolton for most of his life.

He met his wife, Karen – who is also and umpire and secretary of the Bolton League Umpires' Association – when she came over from her native New Zealand on a working holiday.

Also a school teacher, she worked at English Martyrs School, on the site of what is now Mount St Joseph in Farnworth, where Clive worked.

They got married in New Zealand and returned to Bolton where they lived all their married life.

They have two sons, Martin and Andrew, and two grandchildren, James and Louis.

A lifelong Bolton Wanderers supporter, he had a keen interest in football and joined the Bolton Referees' Society in 1968.

He was awarded the society's Merit Trophy for his service to the organisation – much of which was done behind the scenes and largely went unseen.

He was also honoured in cricket, being awarded the Hubert Pendlebury Memorial Award last year by the Bolton League for his services to the sport in the town.

He taught at Thornleigh for most of his career and was also a Eucharistic minister at St William of York Church in Bolton.

While at Thornleigh he formed his own referees' group, inspiring and helping youngsters to become referees.

The group included current Premier League referee Lee Mason, David Enright who made it into the Football League, and others who went on to referee at a good level.

Bolton Referees Society president Keith Whittaker said: "Lee would probably say Clive was the person who set him on his way to becoming a referee and that without him he might not have done what he's done.

"But that was Clive. He helped these referees from them being about 15 and he paid whatever needed paying out of his own pocket. He never came to the Bolton Referees' Society asking for any money for it.

"He got the society Merit Trophy for service-before-self, a phrase which summed Clive up.

"He gave loyal service to Bolton Referees' Society and he built up respect among footballers because of how he refereed games and spoke to people."

Bolton Cricket League assistant secretary David Heap echoed the respect aspect.

"He commanded an awful lot of respect. People knew there was no swearing when Clive umpired because he didn't like it.

"Players always called him Mr Knott because of the respect he commanded and because a lot of them knew him through being a school teacher.

"He was one of the guys behind the scenes who did a lot of work, and he gave 40 years' service to umpiring which doesn't happen very often."