A BILLINGE man has been awarded the MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List for his services to schools football in St Helens.

Father of two Sidney Green, 66, of Stuart Crescent, is a former maths teacher and head of year at Parr High School where he worked from 1955 until his retirement in 1992. And he began his lengthy involvement with schools football just months after starting at Parr High when he was appointed as secretary of the St Helens Schools Football Association in 1955, a position he held until 1977.

In 1964 he became a member of the Lancashire Schools Football Association and, following the Government boundary changes in 1974, he was transferred to the newly-formed Merseyside SFA as their first chairman. However, his involvement intensified in 1977 when he was appointed as a member of the English SFA with overall responsibility over the North West region.

He said: "It has been and continues to be very satisfying to see how school football has developed over the years and one of the highlights of my time with the English SFA was while I was chairman during the 1988/89 season when the St Helens team won the trophy. So I became the only chairman to present my home town team with the winning trophy."

Following his retirement in 1992, Sidney left the English SFA and returned to the St Helens SFA. He is also the current secretary of the Northern Counties SFA, secretary and treasurer of the School Sports Association in St Helens, and is also involved with the Lancashire Schools Cricket Association.

He added: "I am very proud to have received the MBE but I would like to add my own gratitude to my colleagues on various SFA committees and my family, particularly my wife Pat, all of whom have given me so much support over the years."

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