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Whole family on the ball

27/ 9/2001

FOUL play is a bookable offence in the Lawlor household - and there are plenty of referees on hand to uphold the rules!

For mum, dad, brother and sister are so football crazy, all four are qualified referees.

The family, from Elm Tree Close, Stalybridge, started the trend about four years ago when daughter Joanna decided to follow in her dad Pete's refereeing footsteps.

While most of her friends were learning the lyrics of the latest boy band single, Joanna, then aged 16, was committing the offside rule to memory.

But when she enrolled on the course she found she was the only female so mum Lynda joined up as well to keep her company.

Brother Andrew followed three years later and even Joanna's two-year-old daughter Robyn is showing an interest in the family obsession.

Joanna said: "She keeps running around with my flags and whistles. It is great because all my family love football."