Heckled and derided throughout the land, football referees face a lot of stick so to do the job for 58 years must take the patience of a saint.

But for 81-year-old Patrick Laurance, it is the love of the game that spurs him on and this 'man in black' is not quite ready to hang up his boots just yet.

"I will keep going till they carry me off," the former sales manager replied bullishly. "After the war ended, I stopped refereeing for about four or five years but thought that it might be fun to start again and so I contacted someone from the Middlesex County FA."

Mr Laurance's love of the 'beautiful game' started from watching, as he put it, "the greatest team in the land" that's Southend United in case you're not sure.

"I was born in Southend and went to my first ever football match at the age of six. I've remained loyal to them ever since," he added.

A welfare officer in the Second World War, Mr Laurance first sampled life as the merry whistle blower when it was decided that he should referee the friendly football matches that were played during the war. He took a referees' test in peacetime to become a fully-fledged class two referee.

"I didn't want to be a class one referee because I didn't want to go to places like Yeovil to ref as I'm a family man."

Mr Laurance may have an 'X' after his class two referee's certificate apparently to indicate diminishing hearing and sight but his enthusiasm for the game remains as strong as ever.

"It is only 35 minutes each way and I play tennis twice a week so I manage to keep fit," he explains.

In 44 years as a Middlesex referee, Mr Laurance, of Childs Way, Golders Green, has mainly focused his refereeing talents into youth football on Sunday mornings. He can still remember his first game in charge of a youth football match.

"In my very first game I had to send off the right back of one team because he hit one of his team-mates," he chuckled.

"Someone my age can do a great deal in youth football because I think they learn more from someone who is more of a fatherly-type. On the whole the kids are very good."

Doug Douglas, chairman of the Middlesex County FA referees committee, said: "We are very proud of Patrick for his wonderful achievement. He is certainly the oldest referee that we have from over 600."

Mr Laurance, a former councillor for Garden Suburb ward, retired from his sales job at the age of 59. He concentrates his efforts outside of football towards the Family Holiday Association, the charity that he and his wife Joan set up.

Joan, 80, explains: "We are the only charity in the UK to specialise in holidays for whole families that need a break.

It takes up an enormous amount of time and energy but it is worth it."