Peter O'Leary (referee)

Peter O'Leary (born 3 March 1972^[1]) is a New Zealand former Association football referee, previously of Wellington but now residing and working in Whangarei. He operated in the Australian A-League and the New Zealand Football Championship, and his other occupation is as a biology teacher at Whangarei's Tikipunga High School.^[2]

He currently has the record for controlling the most matches in the FIFA World Club Cup.^[2]

Career

He first took up refereeing in 1994. He has officiated in many Oceania Football Confederation tournaments since becoming a FIFA referee in 2003,^[3] notably the OFC Nations Cup in 2004, and the Oceania Club Championship in 2006.

In 2007, he was selected to officiate at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada during June and July of that year.^[4] He took charge of the Group F game between Nigeria and Costa Rica at the Royal Athletic Park in Victoria, British Columbia, on 1 July.^[5] He was then assigned the Group B match between Uruguay and Jordan at the Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, on 4 July.^[6] At the English Premiership tie between Aston Villa and Sunderland F.C. as a guest of top English referee Steve Bennett, O’Leary was summoned from the stands to assume Bennett’s role on the touchline as 4th official for the second half of the match.^[7]

O'Leary officiated at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, as the referee for the fifth place playoff between Adelaide United and Al Ahly and at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt, refereeing group games between Italy and Trinidad and Tobago and between Hungary and the United Arab Emirates, along with one game at the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in United Arab Emirates, refereeing TP Mazembe and Pohang Steelers FC.^[8]

O'Leary was included on the short list to officiate at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa along with fellow New Zealand referee Michael Hester,^[9] both of whom were confirmed in the final 30 officials to take charge at the finals.^[10]

On 19 June 2014, he was announced as the referee for the group match between Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.^[11] The match, won by Nigeria 1-0, was controversial: a goal by Edin Džeko of Bosnia-Herzegovina was disallowed when he was ruled offside by the assistant referee, but replays later appeared to show that he was actually onside on the play by at least a step.^[12][13][14]

On 9 November 2014, Peter O’Leary, the game referee speaking to New Zealand Herald newspaper admitted Džeko's goal was disallowed in error.^[15]

On 15 June 2014, Peter O'Leary was the fourth official for the match between France and Honduras during 2014 FIFA World Cup. The match started without the national anthems being played before the kick-off,^[16] which FIFA later said was due to an audio system malfunction.^[17]

On 10 January 2015, further controversy surrounded the referee during 2015 AFC Asian Cup match between Korea Republic and Oman when the game referee, Peter O'Leary, did not give an apparent penalty kick for Oman during the first half when striker Qasim Said looked to have been scythed down in the box. Oman coach Paul Le Guen said after the game "It was a 100 per cent penalty, It was a very, very bad decision. The game could have been different." ^[18][19][20] O’Leary was the only referee during the Cup to only be in charge of one game.

O'Leary retired in 2015, after controlling his 64th A-League game.^[21]

References