A YORK football referee who died hours after taking charge of a match has been described as 'irreplaceable'.

Malcolm Harrison, of Broadway, suffered a heart attack several hours after officiating at a York Sunday Afternoon League game. He was 56.

Mr Harrison regularly refereed matches for the York and District Leeper Hare League, the John Smith's Sunday Morning League and the Afternoon League, and he had been in the middle for the 1-1 clash between Wills Bar and The Walnut Tree. He died later that day.

Ironically, he had been down for a blank match until he called appointments secretary Chris Dale and asked for a fixture.

"It's a very sad loss," said Dale. "I was very sad when I heard. The one thing about Malcolm was that you could ring him up and he would go. He would never argue, he would just go and referee.

"The referee motto is 'service before self' and Malcolm was certainly carrying that out to the letter. That sort of referee is irreplaceable."

Mr Harrison had recently suffered the loss of his wife but even then he opted to carry on refereeing to take his mind off that tragedy.

He ran the line at the Leeper Hare Reserve Cup final in 2003-04 and for the Sunday Afternoon FA Cup final in 2001-02, and was down to take charge of some of the upcoming York and District FA Cup semi-finals this year.

Away from the football field, Mr Harrison had also been a keen cricketer with spells as wicketkeeper at York Travellers, Bishopthorpe 2nds and, last season, Wheldrake 2nds.

Added Dale: "Malcolm always had a good laugh. He played cricket for many, many years and he would always step in as a guest.

"He's a man that I think we will find hard to replace because of his willingness to referee in our leagues.

"It's those sort of people that are the lifeblood of sport. He could never say no to a game."

The Sunday Afternoon League described him as one of the "most reliable and well-liked referees" and sent their condolences to Mr Harrison's family.

Bob Grainger of the York and District FA said: "I have known Mal for a few years. He was a nice fella and a good referee.

"He was reliable and would always turn up whenever required."

A minute's silence will be held before local games this weekend in respect to Mr Harrison, whose funeral will be held at St Oswald's Church, Fulford, on Tuesday, February 7, followed by cremation.

A widower, he leaves three sons, - Brendan, Phillip and Francis.

Updated: 11:19 Friday, January 27, 2006