Seeing Red
Page 30
I have two other ideas. The first is that I would like to see an experiment with ‘sin bins’. If a player has lost his cool he is likely to either abuse the referee or go and kick an opponent. Yet, at present, a referee can only talk to him or show him a card. I’d like to see whether giving the player five minutes in a ‘sin bin’ to calm down would work. I’d like to see referees given that extra tool. I don’t know whether it would work, but I’d like to see an experiment to find out.
The other change I favour is taking time-keeping away from the referee, to avoid arguments and to make it more accurate. And I’d like to specify a minimum amount of time that the ball must be in play. In Champions League matches, for example, there is only about 46 minutes of play in the entire game. The rest of the time is eaten up by delays when the ball is out of play or waiting for free-kicks and so on. I’d set a minimum of thirty minutes active play for each half and have someone in the stand timing it. When the time is up, a hooter should sound and the ref should stop play.
MY FIRST SEASON
Date Competition Home team
6 Sep North Herts League Div 5 Referee Woolmer Green Rangers Res
7 Sep Stevenage Minor League 2 Referee Colwell Youth
13 Sep Herts County Junior Cup Referee Cam Gears
20 Sep North Herts League Div 4 Referee Ickleford Res
21 Sep Herts County Sun Junior Cup Referee Great Wymondley
21 Sep Stevenage Minor League 4b Referee Woodland
28 Sep Stevenage Minor League 7 Referee Stevenage Colts
10 Oct Representative Game Line Buntingford Minor League
11 Oct North Herts League Div 3 Referee Provident Mutual
12 Oct Herts County Cup U12 Referee Stevenage Colts
25 Oct North Herts League Div 5 Referee Sandon Res
26 Oct Stevenage Minor League 5 Referee Bedwell Rangers
1 Nov North Herts League Div 4 Referee Shephall Athletic Res
2 Nov SML U12 Cup Referee Longmeadow Athletic
9 Nov SML 2 Referee Derby Way Wanderers
15 Nov NHL Div 2 Referee Jackdaw
16 Nov Herts County Cup U14 Referee Fairlands Youth
22 Nov Herts Intermediate Cup Line Knebworth
23 Nov SML 2 Referee Colwell Youth
6 Dec NHL Div 3 Referee Ashwell Res
7 Dec SML U14 Cup Referee Ripon Rangers
14 Dec SML 4a Referee Longmeadow Athletic
20 Dec NHL Div 1 Referee Letchworth United
3 Jan Herts County League Prem Line Sandridge Rovers
17 Jan Friendly Line Letchworth Town
18 Jan SML 4a Referee Bedwell Rangers
24 Jan NHL Div 2 Referee S.B.M.
25 Jan SML 2 Referee Fairlands Youth
31 Jan NHL Div 1 Referee Walkern Res
1 Feb SML U16 Cup Referee Longmeadow Athletic
7 Feb Nat Ass Boys Clubs - Nat Cup Line Herts & Beds
14 Feb NHL Div 4 Referee Forest Res
15 Feb SML 2 Referee Fairlands Youth
21 Feb Herts County League Div 1 Line Sandridge Rovers Res
22 Feb SML 4b Referee Shephall Athletic
28 Feb NHL Div 5 Referee Cottered Res
1Mar SML 2 Referee Cygnet Athletic
14 Mar NHL Div 4 Referee Wymondley United
21 Mar Herts County League Div 3 Referee Whitwell Res
22 Mar SML 4 Referee Welwyn Pegasus
28 Mar NHL 1 Referee Dynamics
29 Mar SML U10 Cup Final Line Westmill
4 Apr Herts County League Prem. Line Knebworth
5 Apr Stevenage Sunday League 4 Referee H.B.T.
10 Apr Adult Training Centre Cup Final Line Luton
11 Apr NHL Premier Div Referee Ashwell
12 Apr Herts County Cup U16 Line Cygnet Athletic
14 Apr NHL Premier Div Line Albion
16 Apr NHL Div 4 Cup Final Line Borg Warner Res
18 Apr Herts County League Div 3 Referee Radlett Res
25 Apr NHL Div 2 Referee Benington
26 Apr SML 7 Referee Cygnet Athletic
MATCHES: 52 (40 Referee, 12 Assistant); REFEREED: 21 Non-league, 19 Youth league.
The first of my twenty-seven seasons and the start of the journey from parks to the Premiership. The four columns on the right before the result were when I received and then confirmed details from the fixture secretary and then the home club. I did not include a column for crowds because there weren’t any. I did not have a column for cautions, either, because there were not many of those. Challenges which would
Away teamRCRCResult
Anchor _ _ _ _ 6–0
Bedwell Rangers _ _ _ _ 3–7
Taylors _ _ _ _ 18–0
Wymondley United _ _ _ _ 3–3
Stevenage Post Office Res _ _ _ _ 4–1
Fairlands Youth _ _ _ _ 2–11
Derby Way Wanderers _ _ _ _ 0–5
Stevenage Minor League _ _ _ _ 0–4
City Hearts _ _ _ _ 4–2
Goffs Oak _ _ _ _ 6–0
Lister Hospital _ _ _ _ 1–7
Fairlands Youth _ _ _ _ 0–4
Fold United _ _ _ _ 1–2
Fairlands Youth _ _ _ _ 0–11
Whitehill _ _ _ _ 1–2
Borg Warner _ _ _ _ 0–1
Southfields _ _ _ _ 5–0
Elliot Sports _ _ _ _ 7–2
Cygnet Athletic _ _ _ _ 6–0
Weston United _ _ _ _ 3–1
Austen Arrowheads _ _ _ _ 6–0
Bedwell Rangers _ _ _ _ 4–1
Argonauts _ _ _ _ 1–5
St Margaretsbury _ _ _ _ 3–0
Wycombe Wanderers _ _ _ _ 1–6
Longmeadow Athletic _ _ _ _ 4–5
St Ippolyts Res _ _ _ _ 0–0
Bedwell Rangers _ _ _ _ 0–3
Wilbury Wanderers _ _ _ _ 0–3
Westmill United _ _ _ _ 0–5
Suffolk _ _ _ _ 1–4
Henlow Res _ _ _ _ 5–1
Derby Way Wanderers _ _ _ _ 4–2
Mount Grace O.S. _ _ _ _ 4–1
Austen Arrowheads _ _ _ _ 8–0
Kings _ _ _ _ 3–3
Whitehill _ _ _ _ 1–8
Kalstan _ _ _ _ 1–1
Bovingdon Res _ _ _ _ 0–0
Shephall Athletic _ _ _ _ 2–4
Hitchin Clublanders _ _ _ _ 3–0
Woodland _ _ _ _ 4–0
Sandridge Rovers _ _ _ _ 2–1
White Lion _ _ _ _ 10–0
Stevenage _ _ _ _ 1–7
Codicote _ _ _ _ 10–0
Panshanger _ _ _ _ 4–2
Cottered _ _ _ _ 2–1
Royal Oak _ _ _ _ 0–1 aet
ICI Plastics Res _ _ _ _ 1–1
Sandon _ _ _ _ 2–1
Westmill United _ _ _ _ 3–2
be illegal now were commonplace and bookings were a rarity. In that entire first season, I remember that I only took five names. You can see that, almost straight away, I was doing three games a weekend. I was seventeen and yet I did more men’s matches than youth games. At the end of the season I was appointed linesman at three cup finals – more than I appeared in during my entire playing career.
MY FINAL SEASON
DateCompetitionHome team
8 Aug Friendly Other 1 Tring Athletic
9 Aug Friendly Other 2 Chelsea
12 Aug Championship FL 1 Colchester United
19 Aug FA Premier League PL 1 Arsenal
23 Aug UEFA Ch. Lge. 3rd Qual, 2nd leg UEFA 1 Steaua Bucharest
26 Aug FA Premier League PL 2 Fulham
6 Sep EURO 08 Qualifier UEFA 2 Poland
9 Sep FA Premier League PL 3 Everton
13 Sep Coca Cola League One FL 2 Brentford
17 Sep FA Premier League PL 4 Manchester United
23 Sep FA Premier League PL 5 Middlesbrough
27 Sep UEFA Ch. League Group Day 2 UEFA 3 Real Madrid
30 Sep FA Premier League PL 6 Chelsea
2 Oct FA Premier League 4th 1 Watford
14 Oct FA Premier League PL 7 Ports
mouth
18 Oct UEFA Ch. League Group Day 3 UEFA 4 Olympiakos
22 Oct FA Premier League PL 8 Manchester United
28 Oct FA Premier League PL 9 Fulham
5 Nov FA Premier League PL 10 Tottenham Hotspur
8 Nov Carling Cup 4th Round FL 3 Everton
11 Nov FA Premier League PL 11 Manchester City
18 Nov FA Premier League PL 12 Reading
2 Dec FA Premier League PL 13 Arsenal
6 Dec UEFA Ch. League Group Day 6 UEFA 5 AC Milan
9 Dec FA Premier League PL 14 Manchester United
16 Dec FA Premier League PL 15 Reading
23 Dec FA Premier League PL 16 Portsmouth
27 Dec FA Premier League PL 17 Charlton Athletic
30 Dec FA Premier League 4th 2 Watford
1 Jan FA Premier League PL 18 Liverpool
6 Jan FA Cup, 3rd Round FA 1 Sheffield Wednesday
13 Jan FA Premier League PL 19 West Ham United
24 Jan Carling Cup Semi-final 1 FL 4 Tottenham Hotspur
27 Jan FA Cup, 4th Round FA 2 Bristol City
31 Jan FA Premier League PL 20 Chelsea
3 Feb FA Premier League PL 21 Wigan Athletic
10 Feb Coca Cola Championship FL 5 Coventry City
17 Feb FA Cup, 5th Round FA 3 Manchester United
25 Feb FA Premier League PL 22 Tottenham Hotspur
28 Feb FA Cup, 5th Round Replay FA 4 Blackburn Rovers
8 Mar UEFA Cup Round of 16 1st leg UEFA 6 Paris St Germain
31 Mar FA Premier League PL 23 Newcastle
7 Apr FA Premier League PL 24 Arsenal
9 Apr FA Premier League PL 25 Charlton Athletic
15 Apr FA Premier League PL 26 Wigan Athletic
18 Apr FA Premier League PL 27 Liverpool
21 Apr FA Premier League PL 28 Fulham
28 Apr FA Premier League PL 29 Wigan Athletic
3 May UEFA Cup semi final, 2nd leg UEFA 7 Sevilla
6 May Friendly Other 3 Tring Tornadoes Managers
9 May FA Premier League PL 30 Chelsea
13 May FA Premier League PL 31 Portsmouth
18 May CC League One Play-off semi FL 6 Nottingham Forest
28 May Championship Play-off Final FL 7 Derby County
MATCHES: 54 (52 Referee, 2 4th); REFEREED: 7 FIFA/UEFA, 4 FA, 31 Premier league, 7 Football league, 3 other.
My last season, and a very different set of statistics from a very different world. I no longer had to worry about getting confirmation of the kick-off time and venue, butthe number of cautions had risen to an average of just over four a game and 1.8million spectators paid to watch matches with which I was entrusted. This last set of
Away teamResultCS/0Attendance
Bedmond Social 5–0 0 0 50
Celtic 1–1 2 0 21,000
Barnsley 0–2 3 0 5,000
Aston Villa 1–1 3 0 60,000
Standard Liege 2–1 9 1 50,000
Sheffield United 1–0 6 0 22,000
Serbia 1–1 7 0 15,000
Liverpool 3–0 4 0 40,000
Swansea 0–2 4 0 4,000
Arsenal 0–1 4 0 75,500
Blackburn Rovers 0–1 4 0 26,000
Dynamo Kiev 5–1 2 1 80,000
Aston Villa 1–1 2 0 41,000
Fulham 3–3 4th – – –
West Ham United 2–0 8 0 21,000
AS Roma 0–1 1 0 32,000
Liverpool 2–0 4 0 75,800
Wigan Athletic 0–1 3 0 21,000
Chelsea 2–1 9 1 36,000
Arsenal 0–1 3 1 32,000
Newcastle United 0–0 4 0 42,000
Charlton Athletic 2–0 4 0 25,000
Tottenham Hotspur 3–0 3 0 60,000
Lille OSC 0–2 1 0 40,000
Manchester City 3–1 4 1 75,000
Blackburn Rovers 1–2 3 0 23,000
Sheffield United 3–1 2 0 24,000
Fulham 2–2 0 0 25,000
Wigan Athletic Abandoned 56’ 1–1 4th – – –
Bolton Wanderers 3–0 3 0 40,000
Manchester City 1–1 5 0 30,000
Fulham 3–3 10 1 30,000
Arsenal 2–2 5 0 36,000
Middlesbrough 2–2 2 0 19,000
Blackburn Rovers 3–0 1 0 38,000
Portsmouth 1–0 1 0 15,000
Cardiff City 2–2 5 1 17,000
Reading 1–1 3 0 70,000
Bolton Wanderers 4–1 4 1 35,000
Arsenal 1–0 6 0 19,000
Benfica 2–1 4 0 35,000
Manchester City 0–1 4 0 52,004
West Ham United 0–1 1 0 60,053
Reading 0–0 1 0 27,000
Tottenham Hotspur 3–3 3 0 16,000
Middlesbrough 2–0 1 0 43,000
Blackburn Rovers 1–1 2 0 23,000
West Ham United 0–3 3 0 22,000
Osasuna 2–0 5 0 45,000
Tring Tornadoes U-16 2–1 0 0 350
Manchester United 0–0 7 0 42,000
Arsenal 0–0 0 0 20,000
Yeovil 2–5 aet 8 1 26,000
West Bromwich Albion 1–0 8 0 75,000
1,806,757
statistics gives me a sense of satisfaction because by the turn of the year I knew that my career was reaching its conclusion and yet my performances remained good enough for me to get some terrific fixtures and to finish my refereeing journey at Wembley.
MY FULL CAREER
YearSeasonGamesRefereeLine4thPremier League
1 1980–1981 52 40 12 – –
2 1981–1982 73 62 11 – –
3 1982–1983 54 40 14 – –
4 1983–1984 64 47 17 – –
5 1984–1985 62 38 24 – –
6 1985–1986 57 49 8 – –
7 1986–1987 81 61 19 1 –
8 1987–1988 77 51 25 1 –
9 1988–1989 71 49 22 0 –
10 1989–1990 67 44 23 0 –
11 1990–1991 76 52 24 0 –
12 1991–1992 59 58 1 0 –
13 1992–1993 60 58 0 2 –
14 1993–1994 47 44 1 2 11
15 1994–1995 36 32 1 3 22
16 1995–1996 48 38 4 6 21
17 1996–1997 42 37 2 3 22
18 1997–1998 45 42 – 3 22
19 1998–1999 48 43 – 5 25
20 1999–2000 58 48 – 10 21
21 2000–2001 55 49 – 6 23
22 2001–2002 53 45 – 8 24
23 2002–2003 53 45 – 8 23
24 2003–2004 55 46 – 9 24
25 2004–2005 50 48 – 2 31
26 2005–2006 57 55 – 2 29
27 2006–2007 54 52 – 2 31
1554 1273 208 73 329
A career in numbers. Here is a spreadsheet of all twenty-seven seasons which demonstrates how much time I gave to refereeing – because I loved it. My seventh season, 1986/87, when I became a Football League linesman, I was also refereeing in the Isthmian League and still doing Sunday matches. To clock up 81 games that season, I was doing as many as ten matches a month some of the time, while holding down a job. I only did two seasons in youth football, because there were too many abusive parents.
Football LeagueFootball AssociationFIFA UEFANon LeagueOtherYouth LeagueAttendance
– – – 21 – 19 –
– – – 45 0 17 –
– – – 40 0 0 –
– – – 47 0 0 –
– 1 – 37 0 0 –
– 3 – 46 0 0 –
– 3 – 55 3 0 –
– 3 – 48 0 0 –
– 6 – 42 0 1 –
– 7 – 36 0 1 –
– 2 – 49 1 0 –
22 7 – 26 3 – –
19 9 – 28 2 – –
25 5 – 3 0 – 458,692
3 6 – 1 0 – 589,050
2 11 2 2 0 – 748,550
3 8 4 0 0 – 847,438
2 6 6 0 6 – 894,750
3 4 8 0 3 – 1,175,022
9 6 10 0 2 – 1,238,054
13 5 6 0 2 – 1,298,507
6 4 11 0
0 – 1,463,352
7 4 10 0 1 – 1,385,411
7 4 9 0 2 – 1,151,667
3 3 10 0 1 – 1,561,791
4 5 17 0 0 – 1,107,000
7 4 7 0 3 – 1,806,757
135 116 100
526 29 38 15,726,041
Look at the international matches, and how the number jumped in my penultimate season – because FIFA were preparing me for the World Cup.
In my last three seasons in the Premiership, the number of games I refereed in that competition increased substantially. I was not the only guy doing so many but it was certainly true that a few men were getting a lot of games. Most of mine were high-profile, potentially volatile matches and, because I refereed them honestly without fear, I had more than my share of controversies.
MY PREMIERSHIP RECORD
Home
Away
PWDLPWDL
1 Manchester United 27 18 7 2 30 18 5 7
2 Wimbledon 12 10 1 1 12 4 4 4
3 Chelsea 30 15 12 3 24 11 6 7
4 Nottingham Forest 7 3 2 2 4 2 2 0
5 Leeds United 16 9 2 5 20 9 5 6
6 Southampton 19 9 7 3 4 1 1 2
7 Arsenal 25 11 8 6 24 11 5 8
8 Blackburn Rovers 13 8 2 3 19 6 7 6
9 Liverpool 23 13 4 6 24 9 3 12
10 Aston Villa 18 7 6 5 17 5 9 3
11 Reading 6 3 2 1 5 0 5 0
12 Fulham 26 11 8 7 10 2 5 3
13 Newcastle United 19 11 2 6 19 4 7 8
14 Derby County 14 7 5 2 5 0 1 4
15 Portsmouth 12 7 2 3 5 0 1 4
16 West Bromich Albion 8 4 1 3 7 2 2 3
17 Charlton Athletic 12 8 4 0 12 1 2 9
18 West Ham United 14 6 3 5 21 6 9 6
19 Middlesbrough 11 5 2 4 14 4 5 5
20 Wolves 3 2 1 0 6 1 2 3
21 Queens Park Rangers 7 3 0 4 2 1 0 1
22 Bolton Wanderers 11 5 3 3 10 3 1 6
23 Wigan Athletic 5 1 2 2 3 1 2 0
24 Ipswich Town 7 3 2 2 7 1 2 4
25 Leicester City 13 6 3 4 15 3 2 10
26 Norwich City 3 1 0 2 6 2 1 3
27 Sunderland 9 3 2 4 12 3 3 6
28 Birmingham City 8 2 3 3 9 2 3 4
29 Tottenham Hotspur 15 5 5 5 23 5 4 14
30 Manchester City 12 2 6 4 18 4 4 10
31 Everton 12 3 4 5 18 4 3 11
32 Coventry City 8 3 2 3 12 1 4 7
33 Crystal Palace 8 2 4 2 4 0 0 4
34 Sheffield United 4 1 1 2 6 1 1 4
35 Sheffield Wednesday 8 1 3 4 7 0 2 5