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English Through Football
The People Interview: David Elleray - Referee

I started refereeing when I was a 13-year old having been hooked by the 1966 World Cup bug. So I started refereeing in early 1968, partly because although I was a reasonable player I wasn�t a fantastic footballer and was going to be in the second team rather than the first team at school and wanted something more active as an involvement in the game rather than just being a spectator. So I began refereeing at school, carried on through university, worked my way up through the amateur leagues and the pro leagues in England and became a linesman, as they were then called, in 1983 as on the football league divisions 1,2 & 3 then became a First Division referee in 1986, some 14/15 years ago. I progressed to the international list of referees in 1992 and refereed in about 35 different countries throughout the world until the end of 1999 when I retired from the international list aged 45 and I�m now a Premier League referee only.

Can you remember the first game you refereed?
Very first game I refereed was really between almost two schoolboy amateur teams in the, on the local ground about 500 yards from my house.

Do you know how many games you�ve refereed?
Yes I keep a record of every game I�ve refereed and I�ve officiated in approaching two and half thousand matches.

Would you ideally like to have been a professional player?
I don�t know, I think probably not because I have a career as a teacher and I�ve been lucky in that in a way I�ve had two careers, one as a referee, one as a teacher and I�m still refereeing top level football aged 46 and there are very few people who are still playing top level football aged 46 so whilst I might have earned a lot more money, I�m very happy to have been a referee.

Do you follow a particular team?
I don�t follow a team at all. I grew up in Dover where there are, there�s a semi-professional team but no football league team - so whilst I�ve kept an eye on one or two teams like Oxford because I was at Oxford University, there�s no team that I�ve ever supported.

Do referees have to declare their allegiances?
Yes if you�re a referee who comes from a particular town and you support that local team so you perhaps come from Leeds and you support Leeds you have to declare that and you wouldn�t referee Leeds nor would you referee any matches that might affect Leeds� future.

What�s the biggest match you�ve refereed?
It�s difficult to know what the biggest match is, there�s probably four or five. The biggest domestic match I�ve ever refereed was the 1994 FA Cup final at Wembley when Manchester United beat Chelsea 4 - 0. I refereed the UEFA European Super Cup final in Barcelona, I refereed the World Club cup Final in Tokyo between Ajax and the South American Champions and then I refereed 3 or 4 major international matches South Africa as African champions played Brazil as World Champions I refereed that game in Johannesburg, just before the last World Cup I refereed Germany as European Champions against Brazil who were the World Champions and I also went down to Brazil to referee one of their cup finals and just towards the end of my career went to Southern Africa to referee the Southern African final between Namibia and Angola.

Is it very different refereeing in these different countries?
Yes you have to adapt a little bit. The atmosphere is different from country to country within Europe and continent to continent. I went to Riyadh and refereed Saudi Arabia / China in one of the World Cup qualifying matches and there was this fantastic stadium full of 60000 people in flowing Arab clothes and head-dress which of course was very different from going to Namibia and refereeing Namibia / Angola in the searing heat and very exuberant crowd and yet a week after being in Namibia I was in Moscow refereeing Russia against the Ukraine - total change of climate total change of atmosphere - so referees do have to adapt on and off the field.

Do you watch football for entertainment?
I don�t watch a lot of football no. I have a very busy job as a teacher and refereeing and training to be a referee and fitness work and meetings take up a lot of time so I don�t watch a lot of football for pleasure

Can you watch a match for the football?
No I think almost every game I watch, I watch from the refereeing viewpoint in the same way I think most players will watch from a playing viewpoint. I can enjoy a good game of football but every time something happens I�m instinctively making refereeing decisions in my mind.

What qualifications and training are needed to become a referee?
Well to start off as a referee you have to pass an examination on the laws of the game and then your promotion is really in terms of your performance on the field of play and at the end of every game both clubs will make a report on you and at senior level there�s a match assessor who will write a detailed report. You get a copy of that report and also a mark and that determines which referees become premier league referees and which referees become international referees You then get a written report and a mark from the assessor and there�s effectively a league table of referees and those who are at the top of the league table at a particular level get promoted to the next level.


What kind of personality and characteristics to people need to be a referee?
I think to be a referee these days, particularly at the top level you obviously need to be extremely fit. And we go through a rigorous fitness testing programme. You have to be a strong character because you are forever making decisions and almost every time you blow the whistle you upset half the players and at least half the crowd - so you�ve got somebody who is strong enough to be able to be unpopular I think you therefore have to be somebody who has courage to make decisions which you know are going to be unpopular. You�ve got to be able to have a good memory so that during the game you are consistent with the issuing of yellow cards so a bad foul in the first minute gets a yellow card a similar offence 60/70 minutes later should get the same punishment so you need to be consistent at that level. But also not be tempted that if you think you�ve made a mistake at one end of the field that you try and even it up by making a mistake at the other end of the field - so it requires physical fitness and mental toughness and that basically comes down to integrity.

Do you need to have a thick skin?
Yes, having a thick skin, not reading the newspapers not getting worried by criticism. I think it�s a little bit like being a politician or a policeman you get more criticism than praise and you have to accept that as part of the job.

How do you deal with the pressure?
I think you turn off. You don�t necessarily read the newspapers, you don�t necessarily watch television. You self evaluate your own performance and have to be aware that other people criticise you and because they criticise you doesn�t mean they�re right. Managers often criticise referees because referees are useful scapegoats for failings amongst their own team. And I think you have as a referee to accept you will never have a game where you don�t make a mistake. Players make mistakes, referees make mistakes. But unfortunately in society at the moment there�s a feeling that referees should never make mistakes but it�s alright for players to make mistakes.

Can you comment on players mistakes?
Well I don�t think we go quite as far as to point out their mistakes but occasionally I�ll say to a player �Well, �when he�s having a go at me, �you got that wrong ref.� I say �well have you made a mistake this afternoon� and they say �well yes I have� so I say �well I don�t give you a hard time don�t give me a hard time�.

Can you comment on a good goal?
I think you can say to a player quietly - that was a fantastic goal - but you can�t do it in a way which would suggest you are supporting that team or approving that team and to go back to one of your earlier questions two great memories I have from refereeing involve great goals. I was the referee when David Beckham scored the goal at Wimbledon from the half way line, from his own half and I was also the referee when Ryan Giggs scored that sensational goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final 2 years ago.

What are the other duties of a referee on match day?
Well as a referee I arrive at the ground about three hours before kick off - I have to conduct a thorough investigation of the field, check the markings are correct, the goal is correct, the goal nets are attached to the goalposts, there�s nothing dangerous on the field of play. I then have a meeting with the police and the security stewards and officers to make sure that all contingencies are covered - we know what to do should there be a fire, should there be a pitch invasion. My two linesman and the reserve referee will turn up and they will need to be briefed as to what I expect them to do during the game. I meet the two managers, we exchange team sheets. We may discuss briefly anything particular I want them to do or not do - or any messages for their players - then I get changed then I get warmed up so there�s actually quite a lot goes on for 3 hours before the kick off. A lot of people think that referees turn up at quarter to three and march down the tunnel at five to three and that�s that. But in fact there�s almost more work before the game than during the game and then after the game I have reports to write about red and yellow cards, goal scorers, substitutions, quality of the playing area, sportsmanship, all sorts of areas - there�s a lot of paperwork post match as well.

Have you ever had language problems with other match officials when refereeing overseas?
A lot of people speak English but when I refereed South Africa and Brazil I had one Assistant Referee from Mauritius who spoke English but the other one was from Angola who only spoke Portuguese so that was fairly difficult. And when I did the Brazilian Cup Final the two assistants were from Brazil who only spoke broken English so I had to communicate beforehand with signs and diagrams.

Presumably players at times speak to you in foreign languages?
Yes players speak to you in all sorts of languages. You can normally tell what they�re saying or the gist of what they�re saying from the expression on their face or the tone of voice.

What is the role of referee?
The referee�s role really is to make sure the game takes place within the framework of the laws of the game. He�s there to protect the game he�s there to protect the players. But he also has a responsibility to make sure the game is entertaining and free-flowing as far as possible. In many respects I liken refereeing to being like a conductor of an orchestra:- that you have to follow a certain set script, that people are operating within certain boundaries. The referee can have a big impact on the tempo and pace of the game.

Is the referee the most important person on the field?
No the most important people are the players. What the referee has to do is to try to make sure the players play within the laws of the game. And the referee creates an environment and atmosphere where the players can be as creative and entertaining as possible. �Because if a referee blows for every minor foul that takes place then you destroy the flow of the game, you destroy the entertainment. So one of the roles of the referee is to try not to interfere in the game too much provided the game remains under control.

What advice would you give to somebody thinking of being a referee?
I think they would need to have enthusiasm and commitment. To accept there will be the odd games where things go wrong and they�re very unpopular. But I would encourage anybody to get involved with refereeing because the enjoyment far outweighs the difficulties and unpleasant experiences

Even with 100,000 people baying for your blood?
Even with 100,000 people baying for your blood yes, because you are physically and actively involved in the game and that�s a wonderful sensation.

What advice as a referee would you give to someone who is planning to become a professional footballer?
Certainly players who are nice to referees get the benefit of the doubt on decisions. Players who argue with referees, forever giving referees a hard time thinking they can somehow bully the referee into being in their favour actually pushes the referee the other way away - the other way. So I would say to all professional footballers if you want to get the best from the referee, be nice to him.

What rule changes/developments would you like to see
I think there are two areas where I think football could make progress. One would be goal-line technology where we need to develop some system where if the whole of the ball crosses the line within the goal the referee should be able to have an instant signal, rather like the bleep in tennis, to say a goal has been scored. The other area I�d like to see experimented with and developed is the use of the sin-bin to replace the yellow card. The player who misbehaves is then sent into the sin-bin for five or six or ten minutes. He�s punished in that game, his opponents reap the rewards of his punishment whereas at the moment you get a yellow card in a game and you then get suspended against another team and why should that other team benefit from that player being suspended? So I think it would bring instant justice within a game and I think it would also reduce the red and yellow cards because I think it would provide a cooling off opportunity for some of the players.

Why do you think football players lack respect for referees?
I think there are a number of reasons why footballers appear not to respect referees. I think one is that football has been a sport where winning has been more important than taking part whereas rugby until rugby became professional it was perhaps the other way around. So winning has been more important and so therefore referees have been seen as reasons why certain teams haven�t won. In the modern game today the players are paid so much that they don�t tend to respect anybody very much. Even managers struggle to control some of the players on and off the field. And I think that in football everybody sees everything that happens so everybody can have an opinion whereas with a sport like rugby something happens at the bottom of a scrum it�s very difficult for anybody to see and say the referee is wrong because nobody saw it, whereas in football everything happens out in the open so everyone can have an opinion.

Does the proliferation of cameras at games make it difficult for referees?
I think the growth in cameras at matches has meant that referees� mistakes are now spotted all the time whereas 10 years ago they weren�t. I don�t think that affects a referee during a game but I think it does affect the reporting in the media and often people�s views of referees because as I said earlier there is this feeling that referees should never make mistakes. And one of the reasons sometimes people say refereeing standards are lower now than they were 10 years ago is that now every decision is analysed from a number of angles whereas 10 years ago there were one or two cameras at some matches and referees got away with most of their mistakes.

How long do you think it�ll before we see a woman refereeing a major football final?
Well we have one woman who is an assistant referee on the Premier League in England, women referees took part in the Olympics, so they are moving up certainly in women�s football, it is largely officiated by women. I think it�ll be quite a while yet before women progress to refereeing senior men�s football, but I�d�ve thought within 10 years.

You are a teacher, would you prefer to be a full-time professional referee?
I would always put teaching before refereeing, I�m not a fan of full-time referees. I don�t believe full-time referees would be significantly better than the semi-professional referees we have at the moment and I think there�s a great danger if somebody is just refereeing, the pressures on them will be so great that their performance levels will fall and I think it�s very good for referees who are under extreme pressure to have another career which allows them to escape at times from the pressures of refereeing.

Do referees work with clubs in training?
Yes referees visit clubs on an irregular basis, often early season or pre-season to explain to them changes in the laws of the game. Some people suggest that referees should train with clubs but I think there�s a danger of referees becoming too close to the players. We�re always going to be slightly �them and us� and I think that�s probably right. I think there�s a danger that familiarity could breed contempt.

What are your worst or most embarrassing moments?
The worst experience was probably the one occasion when I was injured in a premier league game. Fortunately it was at the end of the game so I didn�t have to come off. The most embarrassing experience was refereeing a European cup game in France and in the second half reaching for my yellow card and discovering it wasn�t in my pocket and I�d left it on the table back in the dressing room so I was left bereft of a yellow card�..I called the trainer on to treat the player who had been injured and went across to the reserve referee and stole his yellow card and went back and showed it a little belatedly.

Have you ever found yourself in a position where people have attempted to affect your decision before a game?
No, I�ve never been offered a bribe, I�ve never felt unduly influenced. Certainly you go to some countries and you are very well hosted. Now whether that is a subtle attempt to try to make you fell well disposed towards them I don�t know. One would take it normally that�s it�s just people being friendly hosts. But I think there�s a feeling in the football world and certainly with refereeing that British referees, English referees are incorruptible and therefore I don�t think anybody has bothered to try and one of the reasons why wherever I went I always seemed well regarded was people liked English referees simply because they were seen as being totally honest.


David Elleray was speaking to Callum Robertson
October 2000


 

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