DOZENS of Oakbank School students have been given an insight into what it is like to be a referee at the highest levels of professional English football.

Premier league ref Bobby Madley dropped into the school to meet about 40 year nine and year 13 pupils, following an invite from Oakbank’s access and inclusion officer Kevin Trowers.

Mr Madley, who is from Halifax, said his profession does not always receive the best portrayal in the media, adding that he hoped to challenge a few of the more negative perceptions.

"I'm also doing some motivational speaking, talking to the pupils about how they find out their own qualities and achieve in whatever field they go into," he said.

"The kids I've met this morning were fantastic, very inquisitive and interested in a side of refereeing they don't normally get to see.

"Unfortunately good news doesn't sell, so even though referees do get 97 per cent of decisions right at the level I'm involved in, it's the three per cent we get wrong that gets picked up on.

"This is something which then filters down to grassroots level, which is a shame.

"I'm not going to change the world in a day, but I might make a few of the pupils consider this as a career for the first time. I know that when I was 13 I'd no intention of becoming a referee."