Ref Kelvin first to receive award
There are very few football referees that could say they have loved every minute on the pitch but Kelvin Rzepkowski is one of them.
The 58-year-old, from Great Barr, has entered the history books of the Football Association after being one of the first to receive an award commemorating 40 years of blowing the whistle.
He has run the line for West Bromwich Albion as well as an England under-21s match featuring a 17-year-old David Beckham.
His career has seen him awarded 89 refereeing trophies which take pride of place at his home in Rocky Lane.
He has been in charge of nearly 3,000 games and today is one of the first men in the country to receive the newly commissioned accolade. The electrical technician for Sandwell College presided over his first match on September 6, 1969 in the West Bromwich and District League when Coneygre Youth Club played against the Gough Arms team.
Kelvin said: "I was with a youth club team in Friar Park and while I wasn't bad I wasn't one of the best.
"I was left out of the final team one day but went to watch the match anyway. The referee never turned up so I stepped in and that was how it all started. What has kept me going was that I found I was good at it, I have always got on well with players."
Kelvin is now in the Birmingham Amateur Football Association refereeing 60 matches a year. His proudest moment came in 1992 when he was invited to be a linesman at Port Vale for the match between England and Switzerland's youth teams.
Kelvin got to see the likes of David Beckham and Sol Campbell in action years before they would become household names.
His father Karol lived just long enough to see Kelvin realise his dream before dying the following year.
The match also meant Kelvin won a 23-year-old bet with West Bromwich barber Clive Basford, who promised him a free haircut in 1969 if he ever won an international appointment.
In 1991 Kelvin was also called to Old Trafford to be assistant referee at a match between Manchester United and Sheffield United's reserves.
But the event turned into another rare honour when Manchester boss Alex Ferguson decided to play his first team.
