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While Premier League clubs have millions of fans and haters the world over, almost nobody is a fan of EPL referees. The poor souls, whose every decision is put under a microscope and scrutinized in detail by television pundits and fans alike, never seem to get a break in the world of football.Such is the life of a referee where they spend nine to ten months in a year either being applauded or ripped apart on social media – sometimes getting no recognition at all even if they are the oldest players on the pitch running non-stop throughout the 90 minutes!But many of them do have lives off the pitch as well. After all, it is more like a weekend job. So what do they do on days when there is no football and the off-season? Stats and info taken from You are the Ref and updated as of 3 November, 2016. Only referees who have officiated in 70 or more games in the past three seasons have been listed.
#1 Mark Clattenburg
Mark Clattenburg is 40 years old
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Profession outside football: Law Student. Formerly an electrician.
Favourite club: Newcastle United
| Games officiated | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Avg Yellows/Game | Avg Reds/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 280 | 11 | 3.5 | 0.14 |
Mark Clattenburg is one of the youngest referees in the Premier League. He began his career when he was only 25. In 2006, he made history when he became a professional FIFA referee at the age of 30. He had officiated in his first Champions League match two years later when Fenerbahce beat MTK Budapest 5-0. He has even officiated in the 2012 London Olympics.
However, Clattenburg has come under the scanner over the years for issues and decision on the pitch. The most notable incident involved an alleged racial slur aimed at Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel. Although the Nigerian midfielder didn’t hear it, Ramires apparently did and told him about it. What followed was a confrontation in the referee’s dressing room which led to Clattenburg not being assigned a match for three weekends.
But he was later cleared of any wrongdoing while Mikel was banned for three games for “threatening and/or abusive behaviour” after the game. Clattenburg was also relieved and said, “I hope no referee has to go through this in the future. We are proud of the integrity of refereeing in this country and I cannot wait to be back involved in the game I care so passionately about.”
#2 Martin Atkinson
Martin Atkinson is 44 years old
Profession outside football: Police officer
Favourite club: Leeds United
| Games officiated | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Avg Yellows/Game | Avg Reds/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | 319 | 12 | 3.5 | 0.13 |
Martin Atkinson is also a FIFA official who was only 16 years old when he started his career – only because the local team did not have a referee to officiate matches. He is an Elite FIFA referee who has officiated many finals like the FA Cup and Europa League and matches in the Champions League.
Atkinson is known to be a card happy referee but surprisingly, early in his career, he had only sent off 8 players in three seasons between 2003 and 2006 – a period of 102 matches. But he too has come under criticism for debatable penalty decisions (remember Sir Alex Ferguson’s rant when Lampard scored the winner in Chelsea’s 2-1 victory in 2011?).
He was also criticized when he allowed a Juan Mata goal to stand when Chelsea beat Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semi-final. It was a ghost goal that didn’t look like it had crossed the line and even Harry Redknapp had revealed after the game that Atkinson had apologized for the error. It was one of the biggest incidents that brought about more calls for Goal Line Technology.
#3 Anthony Taylor
Anthony Taylor is 36 years old
Profession outside football: Prison officer
Favourite club: Altringham FC
| Games officiated | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Avg Yellows/Game | Avg Reds/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 82 | 264 | 13 | 3.2 | 0.16 |
Anthony Taylor started his career as far back as 1995. He worked his way up the tiers of English football before he was promoted to the National List of Referees by the age of 27. He had officiated his first Premier League game by 2010 and has been a mainstay in the EPL ever since.
He became a FIFA official in January 2013 which saw him qualify to officiate both international FIFA games and European games that came under UEFA.
Taylor has come under criticism a few times, the most notable being Arsenal’s season opening loss to Aston Villa in 2013 where he sent off Laurent Koscielny and awarded the Midlands side two penalties. Arsene Wenger was not at all happy with his decisions and said, “I didn’t like the spirit with which he refereed this game.
“That for me is the most worrying thing, more than the decisions he made. I was quite amazed how stubborn his behaviour was through the whole game. I was really amazed.”
Taylor had even apologized to Jose Mourinho when he booked Cesc Fabregas for diving against Southampton when it was clearly a foul. It was a decision that made Mourinho claim that there was a campaign against his Blues side and that Taylor would be ashamed of the decision.
#4 Mike Dean
Mike Dean is 47 years old
Profession outside football: N/A
Favourite club: Tranmere Rovers
| Games officiated | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Avg Yellows/Game | Avg Reds/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92 | 354 | 16 | 3.8 | 0.17 |
Mike Dean is one of the most senior referees in England having started officiating matches 30 years ago. Starting out as an assistant referee in 1995, he worked his way up to the Select Group of EPL referees in 2001.
The Englishman has also officiated matches in Europe – namely in the Europa League, Euro qualifiers and international friendlies. He was a FIFA referee until 2013 but had to step down as the mandatory retirement age for FIFA officials is 45.
Arguably the biggest criticism he received was in a potential title-deciding match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford in 2010. Although Chelsea won the game 2-1, it was a match that saw Dean and his team turn down four penalty appeals, three of which were from the Red Devils. It was the match where Chelsea striker Didier Drogba had scored in spite of being offside and when Dean allowed Federico Macheda’s goal to stand when it was clearly a handball.
#5 Michael Oliver
Michael Oliver is 30 years old
Profession outside football: NFA - Referees Academy Coordinator
Favourite club: Newcastle United
| Games officiated | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Avg Yellows/Game | Avg Reds/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | 278 | 8 | 3.2 | 0.09 |
Michael Oliver was barely a teenager when he started his career as a referee – 14 years old to be exact. He slowly made his way up the ladder to the National List of Assistant Referees in 2004 before he was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2007.
He made his Premier League debut in August 2010 when he officiated a match between Birmingham City against Blackburn Rovers. In doing so, he broke the record to become the youngest ever Premier League referee at the age of 25 years and 182 days. It would have come much earlier had it not been for an ankle injury that sidelined him in January that year.
One of the incidents that come to mind where Oliver’s criticism was warranted was when he failed to punish Chelsea striker Diego Costa for deliberately stamping Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel and Emre Can. Costa did not escape punishment, though, as he received a retrospective three-match ban after Oliver himself had reviewed the FA’s evidence.
#6 Lee Mason
Lee Mason is 43 years old
Profession outside football: Businessman. Formerly a debt collector.
Favourite club: Bolton Wanderers
| Games officiated | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Avg Yellows/Game | Avg Reds/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 77 | 236 | 12 | 3.0 | 0.15 |
Lee Mason is another Premier League referee who started his career in the 1980s. Having previously worked in the car rental business, he started by officiating matches in the Bolton Boys' Federation League.
After becoming a Development Group referee in 2003, he ultimately made it to the Premier League Select Group of referees three years later. His first EPL game in charge was when Aston Villa won 4-0 away at Middlesbrough in 2006.
But unlike other referees, Mason has been praised by the fans and the media for some exceptional performances, the most notable being his handling of the game between Chelsea and Manchester United in 2012, in a League Cup match. It was right after a fiery EPL clash only a few days prior when the Red Devils won 3-2 in a game where Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres were sent off.
Mason was spot on in three penalty decisions, correctly awarding them (including a 90th minute equalizer for Chelsea) with the match eventually decided in extra-time where the Blues triumphed 5-4.
