- Mark Clattenburg
-
Mark Clattenburg 
Personal information Full name Mark Clattenburg Born 13 March 1975
Consett, County Durham, EnglandOther occupation Qualified electrician Domestic Years League Role 1993–1994 Northern League Assistant referee 1994–1999 Northern League Referee 1999–2000 Football Conference Referee 1999–2000 Football League Assistant referee 2000–2004 Football League Referee 2004– Premier League Referee International Years League Role 2006– FIFA listed Referee Mark Clattenburg (born 13 March 1975[1] in Consett, County Durham[2]) is an English professional football referee, who officiates primarily in 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.
Contents
Career
Early career
Clattenburg took up refereeing in 1990 as part of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award[3] and became an assistant referee in the Northern League at the age of 18, later refereeing in that league. He became both a Football Conference referee and a Football League assistant referee in the year 1999,[3] 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, with Chesterfield winning 4–1.[4] Clattenburg was then fourth official for the 2001–02 Division Three play-off final[1] and the 2002–03 FA Trophy final.[5]
Clattenburg received criticism 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; Clattenburg opted to give only a yellow card to Challinor.[6]
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,[7] and the Division Two second-leg home win by Queens Park Rangers over Oldham at Loftus Road on 14 May 2003, which put Rangers through to the final.[8]
On 15 May 2004, he refereed the Division One play-off semi-final first leg between Ipswich and West Ham at Portman Road, which was won 1-0 by the home side.[9] He followed this with his appointment at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 31 May 2004 for the Division Three play-off final contested by Mansfield and Huddersfield, which required a penalty shoot-out after the match finished 0–0 after extra time. Huddersfield won the shoot-out 4-1.[10] Also in 2004, he became a Select Group referee in the Premier League,[1] and his debut match at this level was the 3–1 away win by Everton against Crystal Palace on 21 August of the same year.
Top flight and international refereeing
Clattenburg became a FIFA referee in 2006, at the age of 30 - reaching this distinction earlier than any English referee in living memory.[11] He refereed Alan Shearer's testimonial match on 11 May 2006; he is a Newcastle United fan,[12] and therefore does not referee competitive games involving Newcastle.[2] On 9 September 2006, he took charge of a qualifying match for the 2007 UEFA Under-17s Championship at the Gradski Stadium in Skopje between Macedonia and Denmark; the away side winning 3–0.[13]
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 United won 2-1, and then at Old Trafford on 26 April 2007 which Liverpool won 1-0. With the aggregate scores tied, Liverpool won the subsequent penalty shoot-out 4-3 after a goalless 30 minutes of extra time.[14][15]
On 6 August 2008 he refereed his first UEFA Champions League match, a 5-0 away win for Fenerbahçe at MTK Budapest. Clattenburg's next Champions League appointment was not until 3 November 2010 when he took charge of Auxerre's 2-1 win over visitors Ajax.
In the summer of 2008, Clattenburg was appointed to referee that year's FA Community Shield, with Dave Richardson and Ian Gosling assisting and Andre Marriner acting as fourth official.[16] However, Clattenburg was later suspended from refereeing, pending an investigation into alleged debts incurred by companies to which he was connected.[17] The Shield match between Portsmouth and Manchester United took place at Wembley Stadium with Peter Walton as the replacement referee.[18]
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.[19] On 18 February 2009 the Professional Game Match Officials Board reinstated Clattenburg as a Select Group referee. However, he had to serve an eight-month suspension, starting from his original suspension date of 6 August 2008. Upon his return from suspension on the last day of the Premier League season, Clattenburg refereed a fixture between Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers — his only domestic appointment of that season.
Clattenburg's only involvement to date in a FIFA World Cup was as fourth official for a 2010 tournament UEFA qualifying group 4 match between Azerbaijan and Russia in Baku on 14 October 2009.[20]
He has officiated qualifying games for Euro Championships. In September 2010 he oversaw a 4-4 draw between Portugal and Cyprus, a qualifier for Euro 2012. His first Euro Championship match however was a 4-0 home win for Denmark over Liechtenstein, a group F qualifier for Euro 2008.
Criticisms
Perhaps Clattenburg's fiercest criticism in top-flight refereeing followed his officiating of the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool on 20 October 2007.[21] The first notable incident involving Clattenburg was the award of a penalty kick for an apparent professional foul by Everton's Tony Hibbert on Liverpool's Steven Gerrard. Clattenburg initially appeared to take out his yellow card to book Hibbert but after an interaction, albeit brief, with Gerrard, Clattenburg changed his mind and issued Hibbert a red card.[22] He later elected not to send off Dirk Kuyt for a waist-high lunge at Phil Neville.[23] One final controversy arose when he declined Everton's appeals for a penalty in the third minute of injury time, with the score at 1–2, when Jamie Carragher appeared to foul Joleon Lescott in the Liverpool penalty area.[24][25] Clattenburg has never since been appointed to referee an Everton match.
In December 2009, Clattenburg took charge of a tie between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City. City personnel alleged that at half-time, Clattenburg asked members of their bench: "How do you work with Craig Bellamy all week?" In the second half that followed, he booked Bellamy twice, once for dissent and then for diving, although replays suggested he was actually fouled. City manager Mark Hughes later said: "I've seen Mark Clattenburg have a lot better games than he's had [here today]"[26] and described his decision to send off Bellamy as "laughable".[27]
Clattenburg has also encountered contempt when officiating two fixtures between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. In 2005 when Tottenham's Pedro Mendes had a long-range shot fumbled over the line by United goalkeeper Roy Carroll, neither Clattenburg or his assistants were in a position to award the goal. Five years later, in October 2010, he allowed to stand a United goal scored under controversial circumstances (although strictly correct under game laws) when Nani tapped the ball into the net while Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes believed his team had a free-kick.[28]
Clattenburg has, however, been the recipient of good feedback from some figures in his recent career. After an incident-filled game between Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest in February 2011, QPR manager Neil Warnock described the official's handling of the match as "absolutely fantastic". Clattenburg issued an early red card to Forest's Radosław Majewski for a two-footed lunge on Adel Taarabt, and he also dismissed QPR appeals for a penalty when Wayne Routledge went tumbling in the box late on. Despite that, and a total of 27 fouls during the game, Warnock praised Clattenburg for being "so in control."[29][30]
Card statistics
Season Games Total 
per gameTotal 
per game2000/2001 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 39 124 3.18 10 0.26 2008/2009 2 0 0.00 0 0.00 2009/2010 42 105 2.50 5 0.12 2010/2011 40 123 3.08 7 0.18 2011/2012 Statistics are for all competitions, including domestic, European and international. No records are available prior to 2000/01.
Personal life
Clattenburg went to Cramlington High School, and was chosen to play football for them, as well as South Northumberland.[3] 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.[31]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Profile: the Football League Official website.
- ^ a b Interview, page 2: 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.
- ^ "Shield referee confirmed". The Football Association. 2008-06-23. http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/TheFACommunityShield/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2008/06/Clattenburg_FACS.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^ "Walton to referee Shield". The Football Association. 2008-08-07. http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/TheFACommunityShield/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2008/08/Shield_Walton.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^ "Ref Clattenburg hit by suspension". BBC Sport. 2008-08-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7546968.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^ Sims, Paul (2009-01-28). "Clattenburg sacked as referee told career is over for breach of contract". London: The Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1130055/EXCLUSIVE-Clattenburg-sacked-referee-told-career-breach-contract.html. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
- ^ FIFA World Cup qualifier, Germany v. Finland, referee: Refworld.com website. Retrieved on 27 November 2009.
- ^ "Clattenburg given time off for poor officiating following Merseyside derby fiasco". Daily Mail (London). 22 October 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-489051/Clattenburg-given-time-poor-officiating-following-Merseyside-derby-fiasco.html.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfHjqDOuflM
- ^ see tackle at 4:35
- ^ Everton v. Liverpool 2007, "controversy": report at the Eurosport website.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHX1hBItnDQ
- ^ Rich, Tim (14 December 2009). "Bellamy falls for Clattenburg's work ethic". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/bellamy-falls-for-clattenburgs-work-ethic-1839907.html.
- ^ http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-City-boss-Mark-Hughes-blasts-laughable-ref-Clattenburg-over-Craig-Bellamy-red-card-article254737.html
- ^ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-23928000-fa-must-stop-stars-from-fooling-the-bloke-with-a-whistle-and-getting-away-with-assault.do
- ^ http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/football-league/5236/2/warnock-clattenburg-was-fantastic
- ^ "QPR 1-1 Nott'm Forest". BBC News. 13 February 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/9389829.stm.
- ^ Interview, page 3: icNewcastle.co.uk website.
External links
- Mark Clattenburg Profile at Refworld.com
- Mark Clattenburg Referee Statistics at soccerbase.com
Categories:- English football referees
- English people of Canadian descent
- People from Consett
- Living people
- 1975 births
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