Dallas is now in charge of training English top flight refs after fighting and beating prostate cancer four years ago
Grabbing a second chance at life prompted Hugh Dallas to jump in feet first when he was offered a chance to work in England’s Premier League, the organisation he had nursed an ambition to be part of ever since becoming a top-flight referee four decades ago.
Dallas has revealed for the first time that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago and only accepted the chance to be part of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited body after he had received the all-clear from a specialist.
The 67-year-old, who was appointed in February, is now in charge of the training and development of England’s top-flight match officials in his capacity as select group manager, 20 years after he handled his last match as the top ref in Scotland.
But his elevation to that elite level only came after he had experienced the lowest point in his life.
He told MailSport : “I remember what day it was, what time it was and where I was sitting when I got a matter-of-fact telephone call from the doctor’s surgery informing me the tests I had undergone had confirmed I was suffering from prostate cancer.
“I remember it the way people can tell you where they were when a man walked on the moon for the first time or when 9/11 occurred. Your life immediately goes into a state of slow motion.
“I was in my house and my wife Jacky had yet to come home. I had to sit and think how I was going to break this horrendous news to her and also how to tell my sons Stuart and Andrew who were at work.
“I was working for UEFA at the time and they were magnificent with me, telling me I could work from home while undertaking medical treatment.
“I decided to tackle cancer head on when a specialist said to me: ‘If my cancer could be cut out of my body then I would have it cut out.’
“So I underwent surgery then went to Spain for six weeks to recuperate while waiting for the results to come back following my treatment.
“On the day I went back to see the doctor, I was studying his body language intently to see if he had a concerned look on his face.
“His first words were: ‘Well, you’re not going to die of prostate cancer’ – and I knew my ordeal was over.
“I got into the car with my wife and as we drove past a hotel near to our home I said: ‘I want to celebrate.’
“So we went inside and I’ll only say we left the car and got a taxi home later on.”
Dallas came out of that experience with a different perspective on life and promptly rethought what had been his life plan.
“My original intention had been to retire at the age of 55,” he says. “And then I got to that age, the idea no longer had any appeal.
“So when Howard Webb approached me with the notion of joining the PGMOL I didn’t need asked twice.
“When I was a working referee I had always envied guys like Howard who were operating in the biggest league in the world.
“He and others might have fancied handling an Old Firm match, which I had done on countless occasions, but I just wanted to even sample Brighton against Bournemouth to see what it was like in that environment.
“I’ve had cause to appreciate how delicate life can be so when I told Jacky about the chance to work down south all she said was: ‘Good on you.’
“Now I can truthfully say I have never been so happy, or so flattered, to be doing what I’m doing.”
It’s changed days since Dallas was the man in black for some of Scotland’s toughest refereeing gigs. The arrival of VAR in football has been praised by some but condemned by others.
Dallas has backed the benefits of video referees, insisting the system has played a key role in enhanced accuracy of decisions in a game now determined by fine margins.
“VAR represents the biggest change ever to take place in the game of football,” he says.
“Fans have to be willing to be educated as the system of handling matches becomes more sophisticated.
“Accuracy of decision-making is pivotal, of course, and we are now getting 99 per cent of the calls absolutely correct.
“Top-class referees know what a foul or a penalty looks like but the level of communication between them and the VAR control room has to be spot on as well.
“That’s why the people who deal with airline pilots were so helpful in sharing their techniques to ensure there were no misunderstandings.
“More recently we’ve seen match officials explaining their decisions to the spectators, which is a way of engaging with the fans and is already in use in cup competitions in England, the Serie A, the Bundesliga and the MLS in America.
“I was the first referee in Scotland to trial direct contact between the man in the middle and what were then known as his linesmen – but I was wearing a cumbersome vest with batteries attached in order to do that.
“We’ve come a long way since then.”
Dallas is all for a process of evolution of the game because he believes that’s preferable to the way it was when he had his first match in the top flight in 1990.
He said: “When I left the house on a Saturday morning my one and only aim was not to make any mistakes during my game – but, of course, I did because I had no VAR to keep me right.
“I still apologise to John O’Neill at St Johnstone whenever I meet him for once wrongly sending him off against Celtic.
“You won’t stop a debate over VAR but when you think about the penalty that was given to Greece against Scotland in the recent Nations League tie in Piraeus, then overturned because the foul took place outside the box, you have to concede it prevents serious mistakes being made.
“Now people shake the referee’s hand after games because VAR has prevented a miscarriage of justice.”
Dallas has never been on social media, and has no intention of ever being on it, but has nothing but sympathy for the referees he now works with in England’s Premier League and the abuse they sometimes have to take.
He said: “Michael Oliver is a first-class ref who was subjected to awful treatment when he sent off Arsenal’s Miles Lewis-Skelly against Wolves.
“Michael has a lovely family and yet needed to have police parked outside his home because of the online frenzy that followed his decision.
“Really? Supporters need to have a better sense of their priorities.
“He made a decision plenty of others would have repeated if it had been up to them but social media makes it harder to be a referee today.
“When it comes to the charge that VAR leaves fans not knowing whether to celebrate a goal or not, for fear of it being ruled out, I am a glass half-full kind of guy.
“I think two celebrations are better than one after VAR has made sure the goal is a legitimate one. Scottish football has done well in that regard too.
“I speak to Willie Collum a lot and I think the man in charge of the Premiership’s referees is an educated individual who tries to lift accuracy to a new level.
“I see mistakes being picked up by VAR that would never have been detected in my day.
“It makes it a better match-day experience for the fans, not an inferior product.”
