but Howard Webb, as an experienced police officer, had all the attributes needed when Patrice Muamba collapsed with what looks like to have been a very serious heart attack, or cardiac arrest.
Webb also enjoyed the benefit of having experienced paramedics and advanced medical equipment just 50 metres away.
But nonetheless, he'll have had to call on all his experience to manage an emergency situation in a calm way.
A lot had to be done in a very short time, from the moment Muamba collapsed face down near the half way line to the time when the last spectators, players and officials left the stadium. Webb got the medical experts on the field within seconds, ensured order was maintained in a confusing situation and then took the decision - along with managers and captains - to abandon a game that no-one wanted to continue playing.
I've never had anything like that happen to me, thank the Lord, but I fear the worst if it ever did.
I referee on pitches often out in the middle of nowhere in front of a dozen or so people who are very unlikely to have many medical qualifications.
In 10 years of reffing, an ambulance has only been called twice, and they were for players with injured legs, so nothing major. The first time, the ambulance took an hour to get to the playing field near the M25 in Surrey. The second, a few weeks, ago, the ambulance appeared within 10 minutes when it was called in Sittingbourne in Kent, which probably has its own station. What's more, I can imagine footballers with broken legs come a little down the priority scale of emergency incidents.
I suspect that if an emergency call came in saying that a player's heart had stopped beating, an ambulance would be on the spot pretty quickly. But it's pretty uncertain whether even that would be quickly enough.
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