Oh, vanishing spray…you so crazy! You know, this stuff worked pretty well at the World Cup. Everyone seemed to like it, encroaching went down to basically nil, and no one got sprayed in the face (though I’m sure the referees would have liked to spray a few guys in the face). Cue the Premier League referees. Poor old vanishing spray
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Well, that didn’t take long. Chris Foy dished out the first red card of the Premier League season right at the thirty minute mark of the West Ham v. Tottenham match, when he sent off Kyle Naughton for a handball in the box. The call itself was pretty straightforward: Naughton was swinging his arms above his head, seemed to make
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Well, it’s finally time again! The referees for Matchweek 1 (Saturday, August 16 through Monday, August 18) in the English Premier League have been announced and we’re off to the proverbial races! Mark Clattenburg (above) starts his reign as England’s top referee with two teams who don’t like him: Liverpool and Southampton. (Though, to be fair, it’s not hard to find
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Howard Webb has ended his storied career as a professional referee. This is not unexpected; he’s been setting the stage for this for the last year or so. He dropped hints here or there that he probably wouldn’t be back after the 2014 World Cup, and even went back to his job as a police officer part time starting last
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“Ledley! Ledley! He’s got one knee! But he’s still better than John Terry!” Now that the shouting’s over and Manchester City have their trophy, we can get down to the fun matches: testimonials and charity matches. Even though these usually pit real footballers against aging actors and retired players, they still need referees. So, when Ledley King steps onto the
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Here are the updated referee appointments for the last matchweek of the season, played on Sunday, May 11. Howard Webb’s got the band back together again – i.e., World Cup team Mike Mullarkey and Darren Cann (above, with Webb, center) – for Hull v. Everton. Mark Clattenburg will be refereeing in the Championship on Monday, so will only be a
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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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The biggest game of the week is undoubtedly Liverpool v. Chelsea. Martin Atkinson (above) is up in the rotation for that one. Hopefully, foaming madman assistant coach Rui Faria will be suspended by then, so Atkinson doesn’t have to hire a bodyguard. Chris Foy, who took a Jonjo Shelvey deflection in the face last weekend, will be fourth official at Fulham
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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
Read moreSo, I’m getting all these weird search terms in my stats: Harry Lennard Assistant Referee Premier League Assistant Referees Harry Lennard And I have no idea who this clown is. So, in the name of research, of course, I do a Google image search and I’m all: OH… HeLLO, Harry Lennard! Thanks for the heads up, ladies (I presume). (And if
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 