Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has opened up on Arsene Wenger ’s touching gesture which left the Arsenal players’ lounge in stunned disbelief.
Halsey spent more than 10 years at the top of his profession within the English game, spending 14 seasons officiating in the Premier League.
His career was sadly put on hold in August 2009 when he was diagnosed with a Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Halsey underwent surgery to remove the cancerous tumour in his throat, but in the midst of chemotherapy and radiation, he was forced to temporarily hang up his whistle.
His news came just months after his wife had been diagnosed with leukaemia with the couple forced to fight the disease side by side.
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The referee subsequently revealed he had been offered plenty of support from those within the game, including players he would normally be in charge of.
But it was an interaction with legendary Arsenal boss Wenger which has stuck with the 60-year-old, with the Frenchman going above and beyond with his thoughtful actions.
Halsey, speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes at the launch of its 5-A-Side bet on Chelsea v Liverpool ' said: “Just because I was forced out of work because of my battle with cancer, I didn't stop going to games, and there's one occasion in particular which springs to mind when I think about some of the classy touches I saw from the world of football.
“Bolton Wanderers were playing Arsenal and I was in and around the players' area - a couple of the Arsenal players came up to see me and ask how I was getting on, as most teams did whenever I went to watch games.
“But on this particular occasion, Arsene Wenger himself came up to me. My wife was battling leukaemia at the same time as I was going through my problems.
“Anyway, Arsene comes over to speak to me - he wasn't bothered about how I was; he wanted to know how she was getting on!”
After discovering his wife was in the players’ lounge, Wenger asked Halsey to take him to go and see her.
“So I've had to take him upstairs, into a packed-out lounge, and Arsene's just walked straight past everyone and over to my wife and talked to her for five minutes,” he continued. “Everyone was just silent; I don't think they could believe it. And just like that he went back down to be with his team.
“That's something I'll never ever forget - it was just fantastic. I still text him every so often even to this day. He's a fantastic man, he really is.”
Halsey would return to refereeing in 2010 after passing the referees’ fitness test and was included in the Premier League’s list of officials for the 2010/11 season.
