ONE of the country’s elite Premier League football referees proved an inspiration to pupils when he spoke about his career and battle with cancer.

Mark Halsey, spent time at Southlands High School, Chorley, with 25 students, both boys and girls, all who have a keen interest in sport.

Mr Halsey, who returned to the game last March after undergoing chemotherapy, took questions and showed them a video, which showed him refereeing Premier League games and charted his fight against throat cancer.

A clip was shown where Jose Mourinho said Mark was the ‘top referee, honest, polite and friendly’.

The ref also revealed he was invited to spend two days last year in Madrid, paid for by Mourinho, which included being a spectator as the Special One’s Inter Milan won the Champions League Final.

Adam Lowery, assistant headteacher, said that the video clips were excellent for motivation.

He said: “It was a brilliant session and we could really have done with a little more time. Mark is keen to come back and talk to another group of students.

Without doubt, he is a superb role model. Mark told the students there is a lot of pressure because they are assessed each game.

“He said that referees will train just has hard as professional footballers and his illness had given him an inner strength and determination to get back into refereeing.”

Mr Halsey said he was humbled at the start of the season when he refereed his comeback match at Everton and the crowd of 26,000 gave him rapturous applause.