After forty years of reffing, Barry Campbell’s ready to hang up the striped jersey.
“Looking back, it seems like a long haul but you wonder where the time goes,” Campbell said.
The out-of-town teams probably didn’t understand why that weekend game was so special, but a smattering of locals in the stands knew. And when Campbell, a linesman in the game, took his bow, the crowd showed its appreciation.
But if anyone knew the importance of the game for Campbell, it was the referee and the other linesman, his brother and nephew respectively.
Starting when he was 15, in the late sixties, Campbell came to reffing by way of being a ‘rink rat’.
“I think it was just because I hung around the rink so much I got asked to do something,” Campbell said.
He helped clean up, carried equipment and did the odd jobs that crop up around the rink.
That was more than forty years ago when Campbell was young and his body made of rubber bands and silly putty and it always bounced back from injuries and pains. Things change a lot in forty years though.
“As you get older, your aches and pains don’t disappear as fast,” Campbell said.
But from his earliest memories, he’s always been something of a ‘rink rat’.
“My sister said I used to help carry my Dad’s equipment to the rink,” Campbell said.
And his memory doesn’t even go back as far as his ability to skate.
As he grew up his passion for skating and the game was such that not only was he on the ice to play hockey, but he reffed it too.
This gave the young Campbell a different perspective on how the game should be played, but not the perspective you would have thought.
“I was one of the worst players; I got my share of penalties and misconducts. I thought I knew everything,” said Campbell.
“I deserved everything I got,” he added.
Sometimes he bit off a bit too much as a young ref, much to his parents chagrin.
He remembers one instance when he was young when he got asked at the rink to ref at
a game that allowed full contact.
It was the first time he was asked to ref such a high-level game and he was so excited
he called home to tell his
parents, which wasn’t the best idea.
“My dad had some choice words to say about that,”
said Campbell, “it got
nixed.”
From a near lifetime spent on the rink, where kids and adults lay their hearts on the ice there’s a lot more stories where that comes from.
There’s the time he had to
use a little ‘excessive force’ to hold back a player that was
getting particularly aggressive.
Not all his stories are gladiatorial though.
In one game, against Lloydminster, someone brought a live chicken to the rink and threw it on the ice.
And though he had good reason to be frustrated, he kept his humour with him on the ice.
“Chasing a live chicken on the ice, that was pretty comical,” he said.
And then sometimes the comical and pugilistic combine, like when a contact was falling out when Campbell and another linesman were trying to break up a fight. So he took it out, and gave it to the ref said Campbell. ‘Well what am I
supposed to do with it?’ he asked. ‘I don’t know, stick it
in your mouth,’ Campbell responded.
So the ref did and when the fight was over Campbell went to the ref for his contact, and only got a laugh – the ref had swallowed his contact.
And then there’s the stories that won’t see the light of
day.
“There’s lots of good stories, some of them we’ll keep inside the dressing room,” Campbell said.
It’s this camaraderie Campbell will miss. It’s not something he gives up lightly, but when the body says it’s had enough it can be hard to argue.
“I was at the point, I was
off for Christmas with medical issues and I almost wasn’t
going to come back,” said Campbell.
Despite the medical issues, he managed to come back and finish out the season, making his career as a ref 40 years long. A number that suits Campbell just fine.
“It was sort of a goal of mine,” Campbell said.
After nearly half a century spent on the ice it will be hard for Campbell to let go of it.
“It’ll be hard, the first month or so,” said Campbell. Adding, “I’ll just kind of ween myself of it, spend some more time with my wife.”
Part of that plan includes stopping by the rink to take in a game from time to time, just to get his fix of the game he loves.
But as with all things, the silver lining is there and for Campbell that’s not getting those Friday calls that fill up
his weekend so quickly, so
he has a little more time for
his wife, kids and grandkids.