THE ‘beautiful game’ often conjures up inspiring family connections within football clubs, with siblings lining-up alongside each other on the pitch and their dedicated parents providing a platform for the game to flourish, writes Simon Parkinson.

But when Falcons Youth and Taunton North came together for a recent Taunton Youth League tussle at Norton Fitzwarren, a unique family scenario unfolded.

For starters, the ‘man’ in the middle keeping capable law and order was one Jordan Lee, a newly-qualified 14-year-old Somerset referee who certainly had his hands full, not least in keeping a correct account of proceedings in what unfolded as a ten-goal second division epic.

Keeping a careful watch from the sidelines in the throes of making those all-important offside calls were two enthusiastic ‘flag bearers’.

Nothing unusual about that, one might say. Yet if the two experienced assistant refs appeared to bear more than a passing resemblance to the fledgling official at the hub of it all, then you’d have been right to look twice.

One of those men was young Jordan’s dad, Brian Lee, a Level 4 ref happy to take up the flag when asked to run one of the lines in the game.

But the story does not end there. To cap a clean sweep, and ensure three generations of officials were on duty, Lee Senior’s sprightly colleague sprinting up and down the other side of the pitch was none other than Jordan’s grandfather, Chris Golden, a Canadian Provincial referee who was in the country visiting family and friends.

As for the match, it was said to have been played in ‘good spirits’, with Taunton Youth running out 8-2 winners thanks to Tom Penny’s four-timer and doubles apiece from Tom Sully and Joe Sully.

Thomas Braide and Aaron Smith replied for a spirited Falcons side.

Meanwhile both managers complimented Jordan on his performance and said that their teams had relished having all three closely-related officials on parade.

“It felt like a cup final”, one of the players remarked after the match while Jordan insisted that he had “enjoyed the experience”.