Shrewsbury’s top football referee Rob Lewis is back in the spotlight after returning to the Football League list of officials.
Lewis, of Meole Village, took charge of nearly 50 league matches up to the end of the 2007-08 season before an eight month injury lay off cost him his coveted place on the national list.
But he has since plugged away to get back to the stage he had worked so hard over so many years to reach, and his perseverance paid off when he one was of seven refs from around the country to be added to the Football League panel for the new season.
His first game back in the middle was the League Two clash between Wycombe Wanderers and Morecambe at Adams Park last weekend.
“It’s great to be back as a league referee and I’ve worked hard to get back to this level,” said Lewis.
“I’ve spent the last couple of seasons running the line in the Premier League and refereeing in the Conference.
“I got some good appointments last season, refereeing top six sides in the Conference most of the time and also did the play-off semi final between Luton Town and York City.”
Lewis, who started his refereeing career in the Shrewsbury and Shropshire leagues, expects to be handed League Two games in the early weeks of the season.
But in his last full season in the middle he received a string of attractive appointments, including taking charge of Championship matches at Wolves, Derby and Sheffield Wednesday.
He also earned his FIFA badge as an assistant referee and frequently flew around Europe for high profile international matches, with one of the highlights running the line at the Bernabeu Stadium for a Champions League match when David Beckham was playing for Real Madrid.
“It’s been a long time back with what happened with injury but I’m looking forward to it,” added Lewis, who was at the Greenhous Meadow recently to referee Shrewsbury Town’s friendly against Tranmere Rovers and was also in the middle at the Bucks Head on Tuesday night when AFC Telford United met Wolves.
By Stuart Dunn