SAM Waters led a busy life, switching effortlessly from his work as a policeman to his role as a football referee.

With no car, he had to cycle from his home in Oxford to wherever the match might be – and that could be as far as Thame, Chipping Norton, Bicester or Witney.

His grandson, Graham, recalls: “It wasn’t unusual for him to come off the night shift on Saturday morning, grab a couple of hours sleep, cycle to a match, referee it, cycle home, have an evening meal and go back to work at 10pm.”

Mr Waters served Oxfordshire football for more than 40 years as a player, referee and administrator.

Nearly 50 years after his death, his contribution to the sport is still remembered with an annual competition for the Sam Waters Cup.

He was born at Middleton Cheney, near Banbury, in 1888 and joined Oxford City Police as Pc 73 in February 1912 after four years with the Army Service Corps.

His police and Army duties, however, did not stop him enjoying sport.

Despite a knee injury which restricted his movement, he played football regularly for the police team as well as for Cowley and the Foresters Friendly Society.

Between 1912 and 1914, he appeared for the police in three matches against Magdalen College, whose team included the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII.

Mr Waters described him as a “good dribbler, but not a very powerful shot”.

During war service in France, he refereed games between British, French and Belgian battalion teams.

After being demobbed, he rejoined the police in February 1919 and took up refereeing with the Oxfordshire Football Association.

He was also appointed to the referees’ list of the Berks and Bucks FA, the Isthmian League and the Great Western League.

In an interview with the Oxford Mail in 1960, he revealed that in one memorable match at Abingdon, he sent off five players – three from one team, two from the other.

He also recalled taking charge of one match without a whistle, when the referee failed to turn up. “I just put my fingers in my mouth and whistled,” he said.

Mr Waters’s proudest moment was being appointed a linesman at the 1932 FA Amateur Cup final in which Dulwich Hamlet beat Liverpool Marine 7-1.

A tribute to him at that time read: “As a referee, he is one of those quietly efficient men that are respected by players and spectators.

“He has none of those truculent mannerisms that some referees appear to think part of their craft and one rarely hears his decisions criticised.”

He ran the line at many FA Cup games and refereed many local matches, including the Oxfordshire Charity Cup final four times.

In 1923, he was invited to referee an Oxford University game and for 14 years, rarely missed a Dark Blues’ home fixture.

He retired from the police in 1937 after eight years as Sergeant No.11 in the city force.

In 1947, he was appointed to the Oxfordshire Football Association Council, representing the city division until his retirement in 1961.

When he died in 1967, aged 78, the Sam Waters Cup competition was established in his memory.

Grandson Graham recalls: “Every time we went to my grandparents’ house in Southfield Road, the conversation was always sport, sport and more sport.”

p Chinnor Exiles are the current holders of the Sam Waters Cup, after beating Blackbird in a hard-fought final at Oxford City’s ground at Marsh Lane.

Chinnor were 2-0 down but fought back to win 3-2 and clinch the trophy which was presented by Sam Waters’s grandson, Graham.

It was sweet revenge for Chinnor, who were the beaten finalists in an equally dramatic final in 2014.

Goalkeeper Harry Jenkins was the hero for Barton, saving four penalties out of six during a tense shoot-out. He then stepped forward to slot home the winning spot-kick himself to give his side a 3-2 victory on penalties, following a 1-1 draw after extra time.