BRIGG BLOG PAYS TRIBUTE TO SPORTING STALWART

Brigg Blog was very sorry to hear of the death of one of the best-known figures in Lincolnshire football.
Ken Stones served the Scunthorpe and District League as referee and fixture secretary for FIFTY YEARS, which is remarkable.
These pictures show a respectful minute's silence being observed in memory of Ken prior to Saturday's league game at Barnetby United's Silver Street Ground where Barnetby Reserves were playing Limestone Rangers Reserves.
Ken's funeral will be held on Friday 4th October at Woodlands Crematorium, Scunthorpe, at noon.
We got to know Ken well in the 1980s while on the Scunthorpe Telegraph's sports desk.
One of our sub-editing duties involved putting his round-up of league games onto a page in Wednesday editions throughout the season.
The Saturday League had far more teams in those days - Brigg Amateurs having three for a brief period.
Ken's columns were very popular, with local players always hoping to merit a mention.
Helpful as ever, he loaned me an FA book from the 1950s which included charts outling how league fixtures could be set up very quickly and efficiently in the era before computers.
I used this method to generate fixtures for cricket leagues over many seasons.
Ken attended a host of end-of-season football cup finals on behalf of the league, including some in Brigg.
If you signed a paper registration form to play Scunthorpe League football at any time during Ken's era he would have checked it to ensure all was in order, along with hundreds of others.
He compiled weekly league tables and spent hours on Saturday evenings talking to club officials to gain information for his press reports.
All the results and the forthcoming weekend's fixtures were at Telegraph House first thing on Monday morning, without fail.