Mark Clattenburg
Full name | Mark Clattenburg | ||
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Other occupation | Qualified electrician |
Mark Clattenburg (born 13 March 1975[1] in Consett, County Durham[2]) is an English football referee, who operates in the Football League and the Premier League, and for FIFA. He is based in Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He trained as an electrician and is of part-Canadian ancestry. He is also an avid supporter of Newcastle United Football Club.[3]
Career
He took up refereeing in 1990 as part of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme,[4] and became an assistant referee in the Northern League at the age of 18. A year later he was refereeing in that league. He became both a Football Conference referee and a Football League assistant referee in the year 1999,[4] but was rapidly promoted to the National List of Football League referees in the year 2000.[1] He had served only one year as an assistant - a record shared with Steve Baines - but his promise led to quicker promotion. His debut Football League match (at the age of just 25 - a one-time post-war record) was between Chesterfield and York City on 12 August 2000, and Chesterfield ran out 4-1 winners.[5] Clattenburg was then fourth official for the 2001-02 Division Three Play-off Final[1] and the 2002-03 FA Trophy Final.[6]
Clattenburg was heavily criticised by supporters in 2002 following his failure to send off Stockport County defender Dave Challinor for a foul on Martin Pringle during a game against Grimsby Town. Pringle's leg was broken in two places and his career effectively ended by the foul, yet Clattenburg opted to give only a yellow card to Challinor.[7] Remarkably, Stockport's then player-manager Carlton Palmer was also booked by Clattenburg for dissent - arguing that his own player should have been sent off.
Nevertheless, later in the 2002-03 season, Clattenburg was chosen to referee two play-off semi-finals - the Division One first-leg 1-1 draw between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United at the City Ground on 10 May 2003,[8] and the Division Two second leg home win by QPR over Oldham at Loftus Road on 14 May 2003, which put Rangers through to the Final.[9]
On 15 May 2004, he was man-in-the-middle for the Division One play-off semi-final first leg between Ipswich and West Ham at Portman Road, which finished 1-0 to the home side, courtesy of a Darren Bent goal after 57 minutes.[10] He followed this with his appointment at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on 31 May 2004 for the Division Three play-off final contested by Mansfield Town and Huddersfield, which required a penalty shoot-out when the match finished 0-0 after extra time. Huddersfield won this by 4 penalties to 1.[11] Also in 2004, he became a Select Group referee in the Premier League,[1] and his first match at this level was the 3-1 away win by Everton against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on 21 August 2004.
He "failed to see" that Pedro Mendes' long range effort had ended up in the back of the net, despite everyone else in attendance seeing it do so.
He became a FIFA referee in 2006, at the age of only thirty, reaching this distinction earlier than any English referee in living memory.[12] He was then the referee for Alan Shearer's testimonial match on 11 May 2006. He is a Newcastle United fan,[13] and he is therefore not allowed to referee competitive games involving Newcastle.[2] On 9 September 2006, he took charge of a qualifying match for the 2007 European UEFA Under-16 Championship at the Gradski Stadium, Skopje, between FYR Macedonia and Denmark, the away side winning 3-0.[14]
Clattenburg was appointed to control both legs of the 2006-07 FA Youth Cup Final, contested by Liverpool and Manchester United, firstly at Anfield on 16 April 2007, which finished 1-2 in favour of United, and then at Old Trafford on 26 April 2007 (0-1 to Liverpool). The aggregate scores being tied, Liverpool triumphed 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out which followed a goalless 30 minutes of extra time.[15][16]
During the local derby match between Everton and Liverpool on 20 October 2007, he made a number of controversial decisions including declining Everton's appeals for a penalty in the third minute of added time, with the score at 1-2, when Jamie Carragher appeared to hold back Everton's Joleon Lescott in the Liverpool six yard box.[17] He was suspended from officiating the following weekend's Premier League matches as a result.[18]
Clattenburg was appointed to take charge of The FA Community Shield on 9 August 2008, with Dave Richardson and Ian Gosling assisting and Andre Marriner acting as fourth official.[19] However, Clattenburg was suspended from refereeing, pending an investigation into alleged debts incurred by companies to which he is connected.[20] The match between 2008 FA Cup winners Portsmouth and 2007/08 Premier League champions Manchester United took place at Wembley Stadium with Peter Walton as the replacement referee.[21]
Following the investigation into his personal life and business debts, the referees' governing body dismissed Clattenburg, citing a breach of contract. He denied all the allegations and appealed the decision.[22]
He appealed the decision, on 18 February 2009 Professional Game Match Officials Limited stated that Clattenburg would be reinstated as a "Select Group" referee. However, he will have to serve an eight-month suspension, starting from his original suspension date of 6 August 2008.
Career statistics
Season | Games | Total ![]() |
![]() |
Total ![]() |
![]() |
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2000/2001 | 24 | 67 | 2.79 | 4 | 0.17 |
2001/2002 | 33 | 103 | 3.12 | 6 | 0.18 |
2002/2003 | 35 | 135 | 3.86 | 8 | 0.23 |
2003/2004 | 34 | 104 | 3.06 | 2 | 0.06 |
2004/2005 | 28 | 83 | 2.96 | 5 | 0.18 |
2005/2006 | 24 | 81 | 3.38 | 4 | 0.17 |
2006/2007 | 42 | 166 | 3.95 | 3 | 0.07 |
2007/2008 | 34 | 114 | 3.35 | 10 | 0.29 |
Life outside football
Clattenburg went to Cramlington High School, and was chosen to play football for them, as well as South Northumberland.[4] He also played cricket for New Hartley Cricket Club in Northumberland.[citation needed] He is divorced from his wife, Helen, with whom he lived in Chester-le-Street, and they had one son during the marriage. He subsequently moved to Gosforth.[23]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Profile: the Football League Official website.
- ^ a b Interview, page 2: icNewcastle.co.uk website.
- ^ Interview, page 1: icNewcastle.co.uk website.
- ^ a b c Interview, page 4: icNewcastle.co.uk website.
- ^ Clattenburg's First League Match: at soccerbase.com
- ^ FA Trophy Final 2003, fourth official: TheFA.com Official website.
- ^ BBC Sport online
- ^ Nottm Forest v. Sheffield Utd, 2003 Division One play-off semi-final first leg: soccerbase.com website.
- ^ QPR v. Oldham, 2003 Division Two play-off semi-final second leg: soccerbase.com website.
- ^ Ipswich v. West Ham, 2004 Division One play-off semi-final first leg: soccerbase.com website.
- ^ Mansfield v. Huddersfield, 2004 Division Three play-off final: soccerbase.com website.
- ^ Interview: Guardian Unlimited website.
- ^ Alan Shearer Testimonial: report from the NUFC.com website.
- ^ European Under-16 Championship qualifying match, FYR Macedonia v. Denmark, 2006: PDF file at UEFA.com Official website.
- ^ Mention of appointments to control FA Youth Cup Final legs: Essex FA website.
- ^ Second leg of the FA Youth Cup Final: match report at TheFA.com Official website.
- ^ Everton v. Liverpool 2007, "controversy": report at the Eurosport website.
- ^ Mark Clattenburg pays for Mersey mayhem, Daily Telegraph
- ^ "Shield referee confirmed". The Football Association. 2008-06-23. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
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(help) - ^ "Walton to referee Shield". The Football Association. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
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(help) - ^ "Ref Clattenburg hit by suspension". BBC Sport. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
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(help) - ^ "Clattenburg sacked as referee told career is over for breach of contract". The Daily Mail. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
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(help) - ^ Interview, page 3: icNewcastle.co.uk website.