During his period of compulsory National Service (1954–1956), he registered as an Army referee; during a military posting to Hong Kong, he was allowed to officiate in that country's Third and Fourth Divisions.
Partridge returned to England and, for a short time from 1957, was appointed to referee games in the now-defunct North Eastern League.
[citation needed] He also recounts a chain of events which led to a major change in the International Laws of Association Football.
Unknown to Partridge, TV cameras picked up Crerand's action of spitting over his shoulder at Tony Allen, another Stoke player.
Partridge later received a letter from Alan Hardaker, the then secretary of the Football League, asking for his observations on the incident, but was unable to respond with conclusive evidence.
Nevertheless, the International Board changed the Laws of the Game to put spitting on a par with violent conduct, and therefore a dismissible offence.
He was appointed to that year's League Cup Final at Wembley between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool, which ended 0-0 after extra time.
Only a plea to the crowd from Kindon and Celtic manager Billy McNeill, at the referee's suggestion, allowed the game to resume.
Having earlier executed two perfect tackles on outfield players during the match, on or near the halfway line, Quiroga then pulled down Grzegorz Lato in his opponents' half in the second period, earning himself a caution, despite standing and bowing apologetically towards the referee after the misdemeanor.
However, the Football League had decided that the retirement age be raised to forty eight on an experimental basis (since confirmed).† This allowed him one final season (1980–81) on the List.
Upon leaving school, he had started his professional life as an electrician, meeting his future wife Margaret at the one firm he worked for in that capacity, Head Wrightson Ltd, which operated from Thornaby at the time.
[citation needed] He was able to devote much more of his time to the farm business after being compulsorily required to end his involvement in football at the age of 48.