Legendary Premier League referee left paralysed and in wheelchair after rare diagnosis

Legendary former Premier League referee Uriah Rennie is having to learn to walk again after being left paralysed from the waist down due to a rare condition.

The 65-year-old - who was was the league's first black referee and officiated over 300 top flight matches before retiring in 2008 - has revealed that he was diagnosed with inoperable neurological condition after experiencing severe back pain while on holiday in Turkey last year.

In an interview with BBC News, Rennie said he is now wheelchair-bound after spending several months in hospital, while he is "retraining" his legs as he battles to get back on his feet.

"I spent a month laid on my back and another four months sitting in bed," he said. "They kept me in hospital until February, they found a nodule pushing on my spine and it was a rare neurological condition so it's not something they can operate on.

"I have had to learn to move all over again, I'm retraining my legs. I can move my feet and I can stand with a frame attached to my wheelchair but I need to work on my glutes.'

Rennie had been due to start his new job as Sheffield Hallam University chancellor before he was admitted to hospital, but the former referee revealed he still worked from his hospital bed as he looks to officially start in the position next month.

"It has been frustrating but family and friends have been invaluable, the hospital was absolutely superb and the university has been exceptional," said the Jamaican-born former official. "'I emphasised I wanted to make a difference to Sheffield and to communities here and I carried on working with community sports teams while in hospital, directing them from my bed.

"I'm aiming to be the best I can physically. No one has told me I won't walk again, but even if someone did say that I want to be able to say I did everything I could to try."

Rennie, who was once hailed as "the fittest referee we have ever seen on the national and world scene" by the former head of English referees, was awarded an honorary doctorate at the university for his work in the community of Sheffield in November 2023.