The four game officials who worked the friendlies were Stephen Cope, Sean McPhillips, Howard Webb and Jason Silver. (Photo courtesy of ENYYSA)

Every summer for the past decade, the Massapequa Soccer Club has hosted Rotherham College from England.

MSC’s director of coaching Richard Nuttall made the original connection as he is a native of northern England.

Besides playing soccer, the annual trip gives the British boys the chance to tour New York City and Long Island.

Rotherham has played friendly games during the past decade against Long Island Junior Soccer League Boys Under-19 teams on the turf fields of John Burns Park and Field of Dreams in Massapequa, N.Y. For a change, the friendlies were played at Park Stadium in Franklin Square, N.Y. last Sunday, July 8.

The opening two games were officiated by Howard Webb, who refereed the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands. Howard’s son, Jack Webb, is the Rotherham captain. He scored two goals as Rotherham defeated New York Hota, 3-1. In the second game, Hota topped Massapequa, 2-1, and Rotherham won the last game, shutting out Massapequa, 3-0.

Howard Webb posed for photos throughout the day with anybody who asked.

“I would not have missed meeting and officiating with Howard for anything” LIJSL referee Sean McPhillips said.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.