Howard Webb

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Howard Webb
Personal information
Full name	Howard Melton Webb
Date of birth	July 14, 1971 (1971-07-14) (age 36)
Place of birth	Rotherham, Yorkshire, England
Other occupation	Police sergeant
Domestic
Years	League	Role
1993–1995 1995–1998 1996–1998 1998–2000 1998–2000 2000–2003 2003–	Northern Counties East Northern Counties East Football League Premier League Football Conference Football League Premier League	Asst. referee Referee Asst. referee Asst. referee Referee Referee Referee
International
2005–	FIFA listed	Referee

Howard Melton Webb (born July 14, 1971^[1]) is an English football referee who operates in the Premier League and has been a FIFA-listed referee since 2005. He lives in Rotherham, Yorkshire.^[1]

His other occupation is as a sergeant in Sheffield 1 South Sector SNA of the South Yorkshire Police.^[2]

Contents 1 Career 1.1 FA Community Shield 1.2 First international match 1.3 FA Trophy Final 1.4 European Under-21 Championship 1.5 First Champions League match 1.6 Carling Cup Final 1.7 FIFA Under-20 World Cup 2 Statistics 2.1 Yellow / red cards per game 2.2 Most goals in a Premiership game 2.3 Cautions and dismissals 2.4 Most cards in a Premiership game 2.5 Premiership red cards by season 2.5.1 2003–2004 2.5.2 2004–2005 2.5.3 2005–2006 2.5.4 2006–2007 2.5.5 2007–2008 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Career

He first took up refereeing in local Rotherham leagues in 1989. In 1993 he progressed to the Northern Counties East League as an assistant referee, becoming a referee for that league two years later. In 1996 he was appointed as a Football League assistant referee, and in 1998 fulfilled the same function in the Premier League, as well as being promoted to the Football Conference as a referee.^[3] In the year 2000 he was included on the National List of Football League referees, stepping up to the Select Group for the Premiership three years later.^[3] His first game in the foremost English league was on 18 October 2003, when he took charge of the 0–0 draw between Fulham and Wolves.^[4] He was appointed as a FIFA official in 2005.^[5]

In November 2007 he was criticised by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson for favouring Arsenal in the club's Premier League encounter. However Ferguson also stated his that he believed Webb had "a great chance to be the top referee".^[6]

In December 2007 Webb was selected as England's representative to referee in UEFA Euro 2008. He will be assisted by Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey.

It was discovered before Euro 2008 that Webb owns a boxer dog called Christiano, although whether it is named after Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to be known. Rumours also suggest it was named after an England player, but due to their failure to qualify for the tournament changed the name of it.

[edit] FA Community Shield

7 August 2005	Chelsea	2–1	Arsenal	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 58,014
	Drogba  8,  57 Lampard Makélélé		Fàbregas  65 Fàbregas

Webb officiated the FA Community Shield game between League winners Chelsea and FA Cup winners Arsenal. Chelsea were 2–0 up through two Didier Drogba goals, by the time Cesc Fàbregas netted a goal for the Gunners twenty five minutes before the end. It was a tense finale, but the Blues held on to secure a 2–1 victory. Webb issued three cautions (to Frank Lampard, Claude Makélélé and Cesc Fàbregas) in a game that saw 11 substitutions.^[7] He was fourth official for the game the previous year between Arsenal and Manchester United.

[edit] First international match

15 November 2005	Northern Ireland	1–1	Portugal	Windsor Park, Belfast Attendance: 14,500
	Feeney  54 Capaldi Gillespie Quinn		Craigan  (og) 41

Webb's first international game was in November 2005, when Northern Ireland took on Portugal in a friendly match. The game ended 1–1, with the home side scoring both goals. Northern Ireland went one down just before the break through a Stephen Craigan own goal, but Warren Feeney salvaged a respectable draw by netting in the second half. Tony Capaldi, Keith Gillespie and James Quinn were booked for Northern Ireland.^[8]

[edit] FA Trophy Final

14 May 2006	Grays Athletic	2–0	Woking	Boleyn Ground, London Attendance: 13,800
	Oli  41 Poole  45

Grays beat Woking 2–0 in this game, through goals from Dennis Oli and Glenn Poole, both just before half time.^[9] No players found their way into the book.

[edit] European Under-21 Championship

The 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying rounds began in August 2004, with the finals taking place in May and June 2006. Webb officiated the Group A match which saw France beat Portugal 1–0^[10], and the Group B game between Italy and Ukraine, which saw the Italians win thanks to a Giorgio Chiellini goal three minutes into second half stoppage time.^[11] Webb also took charge of one of the two semi finals, seeing Ukraine beat Serbia and Montenegro 5–4 on penalties, after a 0–0 draw.^[12] He was also appointed as fourth official for the final, which saw the Netherlands beat Ukraine 3–0.^[13]

[edit] First Champions League match

26 September 2006	Steaua Bucharest	0–3	Lyon	Ghencea Stadium, Bucharest Attendance: 26,500
	Nicolita Oprita Ovidiu Petre		Fred  44 Tiago  55 Malouda  90 Toulalan

The Group E match between Steaua Bucharest and Lyon was Webb's first European appointment. The game finished 3–0 to Lyon, with 4 yellows being issued overall.^[14]

[edit] Carling Cup Final

25 February 2007	Chelsea	2–1	Arsenal	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 70,073
	Drogba  20,  84 Essien Carvalho Diarra Lampard Obi Mikel		Walcott  12 Denilson Eboué Fàbregas Touré Adebayor

The Carling Cup final was certainly not a dull affair. Theo Walcott gave Arsenal the lead with a well taken finish early in the first half - his first goal for the London based club, but two Drogba goals gave Chelsea victory. Disappointingly, the match ended with a large brawl, with most of the players on the pitch becoming involved. Managers José Mourinho and Arsene Wenger both entered the pitch in an attempt to calm the situation down. As a result of the melée, Webb sent off John Obi Mikel of Chelsea and Kolo Touré of Arsenal and showed yellow cards to Frank Lampard and Cesc Fàbregas. After consulting his assistant, Webb also dismissed Emmanuel Adebayor.^[15] This was the first time that three red cards had been shown in a League Cup Final. Indeed, prior to this game only three red cards had been shown in all of the previous Finals. Later in the same year, Webb was selected to be the fourth official for the 2007 FA Cup Final, with Steve Bennett chosen as referee.

[edit] FIFA Under-20 World Cup

Webb was selected to officiate in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada during June and July, and was referee for the Group D game between Poland and Brazil at the Olympic Stadium in Montréal on June 30.^[16] He then took charge of the Group C game between Mexico and Portugal at the National Soccer Stadium in Toronto on July 5.^[17]

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Yellow / red cards per game

Year	Games	Total	per game	Total	per game
2000/2001	26	58	2.23	1	0.04
2001/2002	32	69	2.16	5	0.16
2002/2003	39	145	3.72	4	0.10
2003/2004	34	92	2.94	9	0.26
2004/2005	34	100	2.94	2	0.06
2005/2006	47	117	2.49	7	0.15
2006/2007	43	151	3.51	9	0.20
2007/2008	38	128	3.36	2	0.05

[edit] Most goals in a Premiership game

23 December 2006	Arsenal	6–2	Blackburn	Emirates Stadium, London Attendance: 59,913
	Silva  10 Hleb  23 Adebayor  27' (pen)' van Persie  85,  88 Flamini  90 Adebayor Hleb van Persie		Nonda  3 (pen),  69' Emerton Neill Savage

Despite witnessing this goal fest in 2006, Webb's first five Premiership games were 0–0 draws.

[edit] Cautions and dismissals

Webb issued at least one card in every game he refereed in both the 2002–03 and 2004–05 seasons. As a result, it meant that he had shown at least one card in every game he took charge of between the 2 March 2002 (Oldham v. Colchester)^[18] and the 27 September 2003 (Sunderland v. Reading)^[19] and the 10 April 2004 (Lincoln v. Swansea)^[20] and the 18 December 2005 (Middlesbrough v. Tottenham)^[21]. Between the 17 February and the 17 March 2007, Webb showed five red cards, all in the 90th minute.

The first red card he showed in the Premiership was to Michael Svensson of Southampton in the 0–0 draw between Bolton and Southampton on the 8 November 2003.^[22] To date, the only current England international he has dismissed is Peter Crouch, when he was playing for Southampton against Crystal Palace on 7 May 2005.^[23]

Since the 2000–2001 season, he has issued two red cards in the same game three times, twice giving one red to either side, once reducing one team to nine men (Milton Keynes).^[24] He sent three players off in the same match for the first time in the 2007 Carling Cup Final, when Obi of Chelsea, and Touré and Adebayor of Arsenal, were given their marching orders.^[25] He has sent two goalkeepers off; Kelvin Davis whilst playing for Milton Keynes in 2001^[26], and John Filan of Wigan in 2004^[27]. Webb has shown red cards in consecutive matches six times.

[edit] Most cards in a Premiership game

29 November 2006	Fulham	2–1	Arsenal	Craven Cottage, London Attendance: 24,510
	McBride  6 Radzinski  19 Brown 31' Rosenior 36' Boa Morte 82' Helguson 82'		van Persie  36 Song Billong 25' Senderos  66' Rosicky 43' van Persie 71' Flamini 82'

Webb also issued ten cards in the 2007 Carling Cup Final between Chelsea and Arsenal.

[edit] Premiership red cards by season

[edit] 2003–2004

• Southampton, Michael Svensson, second caution (86 minutes) v. Bolton^[28]

[edit] 2004–2005

• Crystal Palace, Gonzalo Sorondo, violent conduct (59 minutes) v. Southampton^[29]
• Southampton, Peter Crouch, violent conduct (58 minutes) v. Crystal Palace^[30]

[edit] 2005–2006

• Charlton, Darren Ambrose, serious foul play (55 minutes) v. Sunderland^[31]
• Tottenham, Michael Dawson, second caution (72 minutes) v. Fulham^[32]
• West Ham, Hayden Mullins, violent conduct (82 minutes) v. Liverpool^[33]
• Liverpool, Luis García, violent conduct (82 minutes) v. West Ham^[34]

[edit] 2006–2007

• Charlton, Djimi Traore, second caution (26 minutes) v. West Ham^[35]
• Manchester City, Ousmane Dabo, violent conduct (80 minutes) v. Reading^[36]
• Arsenal, Philippe Senderos, second caution (66 minutes) v. Fulham^[37]
• Blackburn Rovers, David Bentley, second caution (90+ minutes) v. West Ham^[38]

[edit] 2007–2008

• Fulham, Leon Andreasen, second caution (88 minutes) v. West Ham^[39]

[edit] See also

• List of football referees

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Howard Webb Referee Statistics at soccerbase.com
• Rate Howard in the Euro 2008 Finals

Preceded by Mike Dean	FA Community Shield 2005	Succeeded by Martin Atkinson
Preceded by Phil Dowd	FA Trophy Final 2006	Succeeded by Chris Foy
Preceded by Alan Wiley	Carling Cup Final 2007	Succeeded by Mark Halsey