Former Premier League referee Keith Cooper, 78, has spoken about the week he was wrongly reported dead, revealing a bizarre encounter days later

"I walked into the sports centre yesterday to have my jab and the fellow went, 'You were dead!'"

It's been a rather strange week for Keith Cooper, the respected former Welsh referee who officiated at the highest level of English football for the best part of a decade and a half.

On Tuesday, it was mistakenly announced by the Wiltshire FA and FAW that Cooper had died at the age of 78. In fact, it was another referee of the same name, from Wiltshire, who had sadly passed away.

The official statements were reported by several news outlets, including WalesOnline, before being swiftly deleted once the mistake came to light within minutes. But, in an age when news travels at breakneck speed, correcting the record is not always quite so straightforward.

Indeed, the former Premier League official has found himself having to reassure people that reports of his demise are entirely false.

"Well, I'm not dead, I'm here and I'm OK!" Cooper laughs, recalling his response to the man at the sports centre.

And not only is he alive and well, he's as sharp as ever and still keen to crack a joke.

"I've got one for you," he says. "There's five sports where you use a net but you don't use a ball.

"I promise you, it's not a catch!"

Cooper, of course, is a familiar name to football supporters not just in south Wales, but across the UK.

Cooper refereed in the Premier League from 1993 until his retirement in 1996, with one of the highlights of his distinguished career coming when he took charge of the 1994 League Cup final between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Wembley.

His career with the whistle followed an unsuccessful attempt to make his way in the game as a player.

As a youngster, he joined Cardiff City but never quite managed to break into the first team.

During our conversation, I suggest that I had read somewhere he was a budding goalkeeper in his youth.

"No, centre-forward! Why would I be a goalkeeper? Five-foot nothing! You winding me up or what?" he laughs.

Cooper has long been a familiar face to Bluebirds supporters, having followed the club since his playing days. These days, however, his footballing allegiances tend to follow the fortunes of his son, Steve.

"I supported Cardiff because I played for them, but didn't make the first team," he explains.

"But I supported Swansea because my son was the manager there. And I supported Nottingham Forest because my son was the manager there, he took them up."

It's little wonder Cooper is immensely proud of his son, whose managerial career has taken him from international success with England's youth teams to promotion with Nottingham Forest, a spell at Swansea City and a stint in Denmark with Brondby.

"He's done exceptionally well. I'm really proud of him," Keith says.

But footballing achievements are only part of the story in the Cooper household.

"I'm so proud of my other boy as well, Neil. He's in charge of the cancer hospital in Swansea, so that's a biggie.

"I'll tell you a funny one. Neil says to his brother, 'You play with your balls, I'll just save lives, all right?'

"They're very, very close. It's nice."

Following his retirement from refereeing, Cooper remained involved in football through radio punditry, while also working with children with special educational needs for Torfaen and Caerphilly councils.

He also enjoyed a spell working on matchdays at Cardiff City.

"When I did Real Radio, they asked me if I would do some work for Cardiff City as well on a matchday. So we did," he recalls.

"It was great. I really enjoyed it."

These days, life moves at a slightly gentler pace in his beloved Pontypridd, the town he has called home for so many years.

Our conversation turns to cricket and the days when Glamorgan would descend on Ynysangharad Park for their annual fixture, drawing enormous crowds to the picturesque ground.

Cooper remembers one particularly extraordinary shot from former England captain Ted Dexter.

"I was there the day Ted Dexter hit a shot and it cleared the trees and landed in the river!" he says.

"It was a big thing, cricket down there in those days. Not so big now. I don't go now."

But for all the football, cricket and family achievements, Cooper is quick to point out the person who has been the constant throughout it all.

"The key to us all is the lady on my right, my wife, Jillian," he says affectionately.

"She keeps me on the straight and narrow. Not only me, the three of us!

"Well, they're both married now, so it's a bit different."

And so, after a week in which his name has appeared in headlines for entirely the wrong reasons, Cooper is happy to put the record straight.

At 78, he's very much alive, in good health and still finding plenty to laugh about.