Referee Martin Dexter speaks of his career pathway, on and off the pitch.

Watch the full interview with Martin on FATV by clicking here.

One of the longest serving referees around has encouraged any football fans to get involved and become a referee.

Martin Dexter has been an official for 29 years now at several levels whilst also managing a leisure centre on a full-time basis and admits he loves every minute of it.

His pathway into refereeing came about when he realised he wasn’t quite good enough as a player to progress onto a higher level and his love of football took him into officialdom.

"I've been refereeing now for 29 years,” Dexter told FATV after taking charge of the annual Labour MPs v Press Lobby game at the weekend.

“I used to play locally but was never good enough and I wanted to get on better in football. I've loved football all of my life and I just wanted to get into refereeing. I started 29 years ago and I’m still enjoying it now.”

The FA’s ‘Football Needs’ campaign is encouraging people from all walks of life to get into football through both coaching and refereeing and Dexter feels it is possible to combine a normal career whilst rising through the ranks.

"I've been refereeing for all of those years, for university football, youth football, I've been on the Football League for 19 seasons and I run a leisure centre,” he added.

"I've always found time for refereeing and I've always enjoyed it.

"There are plenty of courses going on and there has never been a better time to start because you have all of the Academies with people to help you and there's always someone to encourage you.

“There has never been a better time to be a referee.”

Watch the full interview with Martin on FATV by clicking here.