The baby-faced referee, not yet out of his teens, faced his moment of truth. A player, much older and much redder of face, squared up to him ready, it would seem, to lay flaying hands upon his person.
Mark Clattenburg smiles at the memory. He was refereeing Sunday-morning football up here at the time and had just sent off the agitated player for foul language.
"He was face to face with me and ready to fill me in," said Mark.
"I stood my ground and his team-mates actually got hold of him and led him off the pitch. I could hear one of them saying: `The kid's a good ref'.
"I had earned their respect. If they could trust you they were all right but if they saw any weakness they would hammer you."
Like most young boys, Clattenburg was a keen footballer when attending Cramlington High School, but he was sent on a referees' course as part of the Duke of Edinburgh awards at the age of 16 and his life was changed forever.
"I played centre-forward and then right-back and was good enough to play for my school and South Northumberland," he said.
"I may have made a player at Northern League level.
"But I loved refereeing. I did both for a while until I was 18 or 19 and stopped playing completely. It was obvious I could do better at refereeing.
"I was on the line in the Northern League at 18 and I seemed to only spend a season at one level before moving on.
"I had taken charge of just six Conference games and run the line at 20 matches in the Nationwide League when I was promoted to the Football League list."
