Mason issues a red card during a match in 2010 |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lee S. Mason | ||
| Born | 29 October 1971 Bolton, Lancashire, England |
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| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1992–1996 | North West Counties League | Assistant referee | |
| 1996–1998 | North West Counties League | Referee | |
| 1998–2000 | Football League | Assistant referee | |
| 2000–2002 | Premier League | Assistant referee | |
| 2002–2006 | Football League | Referee | |
| 2006– | Premier League | Referee | |
Lee S. Mason (born 29 October 1971[1]) is an English professional football referee from Bolton, Lancashire, who officiates primarily in the Premier League.[1] He is chairman of the Bolton Referees Society and still lives locally. His younger brother Andy is a former professional footballer who played for Bolton Wanderers, among others.[2]
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Mason attended the Liverpool Institute of Higher Education between 1990 and 1993, living in Newman Hall, where he gained his degree. Whilst there he played for his college football team as well as being a regular compere, hosting a variety of social events at students' union club The Derwent.
Mason took up the whistle in 1988, officiating in the Bolton Boys Federation League. In 1992 he was added to the North West Counties Football League assistant referees' list, and progressed to referee in that league four years later. He was included on the Football League list of assistant referees in 1998, and was added to the Premier League assistant referees list in 2000.
In 2002, he was promoted to referee in the Football League, and his first match at that level was a Division 3 match at Gay Meadow between Shrewsbury and Exeter on 10 August, won 1–0 by the home side.[3]
Also in 2002, he took charge of that year's FA County Youth Cup final between Birmingham and Durham, which Birmingham won 2–1.[4]
Mason became a Development Group referee in 2003, and finally reached the Premier League list of Select Group referees in 2006. His first match as referee in that league came on 4 February 2006, when Middlesbrough lost 4–0 at home to Aston Villa.[5]
Later in 2006 he was appointed to referee the League 1 play-off final between Barnsley and Swansea at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 27 May, which Barnsley won on penalties after a 2–2 scoreline following extra time.[6]
In 2009 Mason refereed the FA Youth Cup final between Arsenal and Liverpool. Later that year Mason suffered a one-week demotion to the role of fourth official after his refereeing of a match between Fulham and Liverpool in which he sent off Liverpool players Jamie Carragher and Philipp Degen; Fulham ultimately won the fixture 3–1.[7]
Mason and his assistant referees came under criticism from Manchester United management in December 2010 for allowing a last-minute equaliser scored by Birmingham City to stand. A Birmingham cross into United's penalty area appeared to hit Nikola Žigić's arm and Lee Bowyer slid the ball home despite appearing to be offside. Birmingham manager Alex McLeish defended the decision, saying Bowyer was not offside and that Mason would have been "harsh if he had penalized [Žigić] for deliberate handball."[8]
| Season | Games | Total | per game | Total | per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 24 | 94 | 3.92 | 3 | 0.13 |
| 2003–04 | 30 | 118 | 3.93 | 6 | 0.20 |
| 2004–05 | 36 | 108 | 3.00 | 3 | 0.08 |
| 2005–06 | 37 | 90 | 2.43 | 3 | 0.08 |
| 2006–07 | 33 | 87 | 2.64 | 3 | 0.09 |
| 2007–08 | 30 | 110 | 3.66 | 4 | 0.13 |
| 2008–09 | 34 | 132 | 3.88 | 8 | 0.23 |
| 2009–10 | 35 | 106 | 3.09 | 7 | 0.20 |
| 2010–11 | 33 | 135 | 4.09 | 5 | 0.15 |
| 2011–12 |
Statistics are for all competitions. No records are available prior to 2002/03.[9]
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