I always love it when Phil Dowd (above) referees Spurs. Lots of potato jokes amongst my crowd. “Is it just me or does Phil Dowd look like a potato with a pack of cards?” “Don’t be silly! Potatoes have eyes.“ (I actually think Phil Dowd is terribly sexy in a weird way. Which I know I probably shouldn’t admit.) Anyhoo… Aside
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I am not a referee. But many of my friends and new readerfriends (a word I totally just made up) are referees, so it’s meant that I’ve started watching refs with a different eye than I did when I first became an officiating fangirl, way back when. (Which basically went something like: “Oh, he’s cute. I’m a fan.”) Take Mark Clattenburg’s Europa
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So, it’s no World Cup, but a Europa League semifinal is a pretty good consolation prize for England’s Mark Clattenburg (above). Clatts has had a truly outstanding year, both internationally and in Premier League, where he’s successfully taken charge of numerous big games. It is just a shame that he did not get this tournament final, and makes the fact
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How awesome is this?! My imaginary boyfriend, Lee Probert, has been given the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Hull City at Wembley on May 17. Look how sweet he is: “The first person I thought about was my dad who I lost six years ago. He was always there to support me throughout my career and it’s payback for
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We’re rapidly running out of daylight on the season, and the title is still undecided. This puts even more pressure on the referees than they usually face. Any mistake could impact who wins the title. Liverpool play at Norwich on Sunday, with Andre Marriner (above) in the middle. Poor Andre has not had the … steadiest of seasons. Let’s hope
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Liverpool are an excellent team: fun to watch, exciting, hard working. The Liverpool v. Manchester City game was incredibly fun for a neutral like myself. Not only were the stakes high, but the emotions – with the tribute to the Hillsborough disaster – were even higher. Both teams gave it everything they had (in American parlance). There was only one big
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NOTE: This refers to an appointment in the past. See the sidebar for updated appointments. Well, no doubt, this weekend’s Big Match is Liverpool v. Manchester City. With four points dividing them, and City still with two games in hand on both Liverpool and Chelsea, this match could decide the title, pardon the hyperbole. And when you think hyperbole, you
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It could be the biggest game of the year: the one that decides the title. Liverpool v. Manchester City. Big game = big referee. Right now, the biggest referee in English football is undoubtedly Mark Clattenburg. Sure, Howard Webb is still The Man, and he will be going to Brazil and not Clattenburg. But as I’ve mentioned here before, Clatts
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Andre Marriner and Michael Oliver will be officiating the two FA cup semi finals on April 12 and 13. If you’re the betting type, you can feel pretty comfortable putting your money on Mark Clattenburg for the FA Final on May 17. Not only is he one of the few “big guys” in English refereeing not to have officiated a
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Way back on February 2, Serie A referee Andrea DeMarco made the decision to postpone the Roma v. Parma match due to torrential rains and a boggy pitch. The match was replayed on Tuesday, April 2, with the same referee. In fact, everything was the same: The kickoff time was the same Two players who were suspended then, but not
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