Orihuela Costa’s former Premier League referee, Mark Halsey, dusted off his boots to referee a Real Madrid legends game last weekend.
The 61-year-old rolled back the years to play his part on Real Madrid’s 5-0 win over an Alicante Select XI at Orihuela’s Los Arcos Municipal Stadium.
Halsey made many big calls in the top flight for 14 years between 1999 and 2019 having refereed in the Football League for 12 years prior to that.
He took charge of some prestigious matches during his career, including the 2008 League Cup final between Tottenham and Chelsea.
In the Legends game, Edwin Congo bagged a brace, with Jose Amavisca, Fernando Moran and Alberto Rivera also getting on the scoresheet.
Also on the field playing for real was Ivan Campo, who had a five-year spell with the European giants, prior to joining Bolton Wanderers on loan. At the end of his first season with Bolton in 2002 the Spaniard made the move permanent the following summer.
Campo was part of the star-studded side assembled by Big Sam Allardyce alongside the likes of Jay Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff and Fernando Hierro.
He made went on to make nearly 200 appearances for the Whites and also had a stint at Ipswich before finishing his career at Cypriot club AEK Larnaca.
Campo has continued to support Wanderers from afar in recent years and was cheering Ian Evatt’s side on as they beat Plymouth in the Papa Johns Trophy final a couple of months ago.
He also returned to the North West to take part in Gethin Jones’ MND appeal in 2021, reuniting with Sam Allardyce and a number of his former team-mates to raise funds.
Campo posted several pictures from the game on his Twitter page and wrote: “Today I was with a special person and big friend: @RefereeHalsey. Very, very happy to see you again in Orihuela playing with @VeteranosRM
