The football scout who swapped life in the pit for an FA Cup Final - as a referee

It really happened in April 1936 but it was no April Fool’s joke for Harry Nattrass.

‘Get yourself ready to referee at Wembley’

The one-time Newcastle United scout was working at a Durham colliery in early April when he got the news that he was going to be the man in the middle at Wembley.

Mr Nattrass, of Corbett Street, New Seaham, had worked at the Londonderry pit in County Durham for 25 years and had begun life in the mines as soon as he left school.

But it was in 1936 when he officiated at the biggest match in the English calendar.

Here he is being congratulated by his colleagues after being chosen for the match between Sheffield United and Arsenal.

A scout and 14 years as a referee

The game went smoothly and Ted Drake won it for Arsenal with a late winner.

But Harry's talents did not end there because he would later unearth emerging talent for the Magpies when he became a scout for Newcastle United.

Harry, who was born in Seaham, combined his job at the pit with a career as a prominent Football League referee from 1933 until 1947.

He spent the Second World War as a match official in “friendly” games.

He officiated at Ibrox in 1936

But perhaps his most famous match was a 2-0 victory by Scotland over Germany on October 14, 1936, which was held at Ibrox, the home of Glasgow Rangers FC.

In a year of significant national news, all of this also happened in 1936;

Two hundred men joined the Jarrow March to London in protest over unemployment and poverty.

The Spitfire got its first test flight.

Billy Butlin opened his first holiday camp at Skegness.

And King George V died aged 70.

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