How much are you looking forward to refereeing this year’s Community Shield?
It'll be a bit surreal refereeing at Wembley with no fans but now I’ve gotten used to it and I’m immensely looking forward to it. Without the crowd the game feels more relaxed because the players aren’t reacting to the ups and downs but my job also becomes harder because my concentration has to be spot on. Of course, Wembley is the home of football and I love a good trip there whether there are fans, like there were at the last game I reffed there, the 2017 EFL Cup Final, or not. I also refereed the 2010 Community Shield when Manchester United beat Chelsea 3-1, so hopefully the game will be another good one. Having the women playing before as well makes it a unique occasion as well and one I’ll be proud to be a part of.
How did you first get into refereeing?
I was watching a local game on a Sunday morning because I wanted to play for them and the ref hadn’t turned up. There was only one substitute player and obviously he couldn’t ref the game because it would've been biased so he came running over to me and convinced me to do it. I reluctantly said yes and then loved every minute of it - completely by chance at 20 years old. I went home and told my dad about it, said I enjoyed it and before I knew it he had enrolled me on the course the following week.
Where did you take your first course and then where did you officiate your first game?
I took the course at Solihull and then reffed a South Birmingham League match at a Land Rover social club. It was a Sunday morning game between two work teams and when I turned up there was one set of goal posts lying on the ground so I had to sort that out. After that, everything ran smoothly.
Is there one moment, good or bad, from your early experiences of officiating that springs to mind and has stayed with you ever since?
In my second or third season I took a game between two local pub teams and a mass brawl broke out and I had to send four or five players off. It was such a struggle to get the game restarted and finished I remember going home and thinking: “Crikey is this really for me”? Luckily I was a member of Solihull Referee Association and when I spoke to the people there they just told me that these things happen and to make it a life lesson and that's what I did. Now that has come full-circle of course, because I'm a committee member and I try to help out the younger referees and look out for them.
What are the main benefits or enjoyments that you take from officiating?
I think first and foremost it's my love of the game - you’ve got to love the game to enjoy refereeing. I’ve also been very fortunate that I’ve been a select group referee and an international referee so I’ve travelled and that's been one of the most enjoyable aspects of my career. When it’s your job and your livelihood though, the motivation takes care of itself because you take pride in your work if you enjoy it, don’t you?
Have you ever had a role model who you looked up to, or someone who has played a part in your success as an official?
Honestly, when I started out I never dreamed that I could make a career out of refereeing - I was solely doing it for enjoyment and I was still playing a bit too. Now you see what other people have achieved and how they’ve made a living out of it so it should be massively appealing to young people.
What would be your advice to anyone who is thinking of starting out?
I don’t know whether I’ve grown a thicker skin over the years because when I look back at my younger years I don’t think we really had that much to deal with. Now if I watch a Sunday League game I think it looks a lot harder because society on the whole isn’t as well behaved and more difficult to deal with. But I don’t know whether that’s just because when you're in the middle you're detached from what is going on around you and less aware of your surroundings - it could be no different. The advice I’d give to help counter that is just to join your local referee association and let them help you out because I've found that so helpful throughout my career.
Talk us through your last game…what happened? What was the score?
I did Crystal Palace - Spurs at the end of last season which was pretty straight forward. It went 1-1 and both teams were pretty happy to settle for a draw because Spurs qualified for Europe and Palace were safe. The one I did before that was completely unique because Liverpool beat Chelsea 5-3 and then lifted the trophy in an empty Anfield. Liverpool fans were going mad outside the stadium letting off fireworks which was a bit distracting but it was an amazing occasion and probably one we'll never see the likes of again - hopefully anyway.
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