Rob Styles

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Rob Styles
Personal information
Full name Robert Styles
Date of birth April 21, 1964 (1964-04-21) (age 44)
Place of birth    Waterlooville, Hampshire, England
Other occupation    Surveyor
Domestic
Years League Role
 ? – ?
 ? – ?
1996–2000
2000–		 Wessex League
Isthmian League
Football League
Premier League		 Referee
Referee
Referee
Referee
International
2002– FIFA listed Referee

Robert Styles (born 21 April 1964[1]) is an English football referee from Waterlooville, Hampshire, who officiates in the FA Premier League, and for FIFA.

Contents

[edit] Career

He began refereeing in 1987, officiating in the Wessex League and then the Isthmian League before being appointed to the National List of referees in 1996.[1] The year 2000 was a busy one for Styles. He handled a Football League First Division play-off semi-final, and a Second Division play-off semi-final, plus the Second Division play-off final itself, between Wigan Athletic and Gillingham at Wembley, which ended 2–3 after extra time.[2] He was also fourth official for both the Auto Windscreens Shield Final of that year between Stoke City and Bristol City, and the 2000 FA Trophy Final, when Kingstonian FC beat Kettering by 3 goals to 2.[1]

His promotion to the Premier League list also happened in the year 2000, and his first match in the top group was the 1–0 win by Leicester at West Ham on August 23, 2000, Darren Eadie scoring the goal.[3] He became a FIFA referee in 2002.[1]

He was referee for the 2003 FA Youth Cup Final when Manchester United beat Middlesbrough 3–1.[4] However, his highest honour was his selection as referee for the 2005 FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, between Arsenal and Manchester United, which the Gunners won 5–4 on penalties after a 0–0 draw following extra time.[5]

[edit] Liverpool v. Chelsea, Premier League, 2007-08

On August 19, 2007, Styles refereed the Premier League game between Liverpool and Chelsea, where a controversial penalty was incorrectly awarded by him to Chelsea to the bemusement of both sets of players, fans and management staff. Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez was quoted as saying that the decision was 'unbelievable', and all sports commentators who saw and discussed the incident agreed. "That decision is impossible to explain, it was the invisible penalty" said Benítez after the 1–1 draw. There is no-one alive, not even Styles himself, that can argue a penalty was the correct decision. Later in the same game, Michael Essien was booked twice but not sent from the field of play after Styles showed John Terry a yellow card and then, a minute or so later after putting the card away and walking several yards to talk to Essien (who was booked earlier in the game) and Fernando Torres, lifted another yellow card in Essien's direction, although whilst looking towards Terry. However, it was subsequently confirmed by the fourth official, Phil Dowd, that Styles had only booked Terry and not Essien. It was the putting away and re-showing of the card that confused spectators and commentators, as it meant that two separate yellow cards had been shown during the incident, when Styles only meant to show one - a very bad and confusing mistake suggesting the pressure was too much for Styles.[6]

As a result of his incorrect decision to award the 'penalty', and the confusion regarding the yellow cards, it was announced on August 20, 2007 by Keith Hackett, general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), that Styles would be justly punished and would be 'dropped', or 'banned', for one round of matches. He also sent an apology to the Liverpool manager. This was confirmed in a press statement on the same day, when Hackett said: "Having looked at a video and seen a better angle and a better view, clearly he (Styles) now recognises that he got it wrong and he's deeply apologetic for that. I think, in fact, he too will be making contact with Liverpool in order to offer his apologies."[7]

Styles, who is a trained surveyor, also sits on the board of Oakwood Groundworks Limited of Waterlooville, which had previously done work for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, although there was no suggestion of wrongdoing or favouritism regarding the incident in question.[8]

[edit] Birmingham City v. Manchester City, Premier League, 2007-08

In awarding Birmingham City a penalty 13 minutes from time during the Premier League game at St Andrews on March 29, 2008, Styles caused many observers in the media to question whether the away side's Sun Jihai had actually fouled home striker Gary McSheffrey in the penalty area, or merely been punished for a legitimate shoulder-to-shoulder challenge, which would ordinarily have brought no sanction whatsoever.[9][10][11][12]

The Manchester club's boss, Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "We were not helped by the referee. The decision in awarding a penalty against us was, well, wrong."[11]

Even though Birmingham had earlier been reduced to ten men through Franck Queudrue's dismissal for the first penalty, Manchester City went on to lose 3–1.Recently he has been relegated to league 1 to referee due to bad refferreing in so many matches. [13]

[edit] Career statistics

Season Games Total Booked Booked per game Total Sent off Sent off per game
1997/1998 35 151 4.31 16 0.45
1998/1999 40 213 5.32 17 0.42
1999/2000 40 96 2.40 10 0.25
2000/2001 31 98 3.16 12 0.38
2001/2002 28 108 3.85 8 0.28
2002/2003 35 119 3.40 13 0.37
2003/2004 37 123 3.32 16 0.43
2004/2005 41 124 3.02 9 0.21
2005/2006 45 148 3.28 5 0.11
2006/2007 44 143 3.25 10 0.22
2007/2008 34 117 3.44 15 0.44

(There are no available records prior to 1997/1998)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Profile at the Football League Official website.
  2. ^ 2000 play-off final, the old Football League Second Division: soccerbase.com website.
  3. ^ First ever Premiership match: soccerbase.com website.
  4. ^ FA Youth Cup Final, 2003: TheFA.com website.
  5. ^ FA Cup Final 2005, report: TheFA.com website.
  6. ^ Liverpool 1–1 Chelsea: report from the BBC.co.uk website.
  7. ^ Dropped from Premiership games for following weekend (25–26 August): report from BBC.co.uk website.
  8. ^ Director of Oakwood Groundworks, who previously worked on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's driveway: The Sun.co.uk website.
  9. ^ Media quotes - "Sun Jihai's shoulder charge with Gary McSheffrey was not even a foul, let alone a penalty": the Mail on Sunday website. Retrieved on March 30, 2008.
  10. ^ Media quotes - "he punished full-back Sun Jihai for being the recipient of a desperate shoulder charge by McSheffrey": the Sunday Telegraph website. Retrieved on March 30, 2008.
  11. ^ a b Media quotes - "Sun Jihai and McSheffrey went shoulder to shoulder chasing the loose ball, referee Styles inexplicably pointed to the penalty spot for a second time": Globesports.com website. Retrieved on March 30, 2008.
  12. ^ Media quotes - "Rob Styles deemed Jihai to have fouled McSheffrey inside the area, even though it looked like the latter was the instigator of a shoulder to shoulder collision": BBC.co.uk website. Retrieved on March 30, 2008.
  13. ^ Birmingham 3 Man. City 1, Premier League, 2008: soccerbase.com website. Retrieved on March 30, 2008.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Jeff Winter		 FA Cup Final Referee
2005		 Succeeded by
Alan Wiley