Andy D'Urso

Andrew Paul D'Urso (born 1963-11-30 [ [http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0,,10794~628215,00.html Birthdate] confirmation: Football League Official website.] ) is an English football referee in the FA Premier League. He is based in Billericay, Essex and is a member of the "Barking & Dagenham Referees Society". Outside of the beautiful game, he landed a cameo role as an extra in 'Men Behaving Badly' in the off-season.

Career

D'Urso was first promoted onto the Football League in 1994; it took a further 5 seasons for him to be promoted onto the Premier League list. In 2001 he was nominated for FIFA status, officiating in a full international in May 2004 when the Republic of Ireland met Nigeria.

Manchester United v Middlesbrough, 2000

On 29 January 2000 while refereeing the game between Manchester United and Middlesbrough, D'Urso awarded Middlesbrough a penalty kick when Juninho was tackled by Jaap Stam. Upon awarding the kick, five Manchester United players (Roy Keane, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Jaap Stam and Gary Neville) chased D'Urso to object to the decision; the resulting image was freely circulated by the media. [cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/625893.stm | title=D'Urso feared Old Trafford pushover | publisher=BBC Sport | accessdate=2007-02-16 | date=2000-01-31] D'Urso said of the incident: "It was my first season in the Premier League, my first time refereeing Manchester United and my first time at Old Trafford. With more experience I would have stood my ground. I kept saying 'go away', but the further back I walked the more they walked on. A more experienced referee would not have retreated. But there are no grudges. I've refereed Roy Keane on a number of occasions since without a problem." [cite news | url=http://www.officialsports.co.uk/cgi-bin/officialnews/fullnews.cgi?newsid1152286560,18078, | title= Andy D'Urso: Abuse, snarls and sandwiches - a day in the life of a referee | publisher=OfficialSports.co.uk | accessdate=2006-11-14] Several players, notably, Keane and Stam, have since voiced their regret of the incident.

He was selected to referee the FA Charity Shield game between Liverpool and Manchester United in 2001, in which he awarded a first half penalty against Roy Keane.

outhampton v Blackburn Rovers, 2004

D'Urso was dropped from the 'Select Group' of match referees by the Football Association in the summer of 2005. This announcement followed an incident at the St Mary's Stadium, Southampton between Southampton and Blackburn Rovers on 21 August 2004. In the closing minutes of the game and having awarded a penalty-kick against Blackburn, the Rovers' captain and Scotland international, Barry Ferguson was seen by D'Urso to have kicked the ball away. D'Urso cautioned the player for delaying the restart by raising the card in his direction without confirming the player's identity. Ferguson had already been cautioned in the second half of the game and therefore should have been sent from the field of play. Southampton eventually won the game 3-2, James Beattie converting the penalty.

Following Beattie's goal the fourth official, Keith Hill brought the above to D'Urso's attention before the restart but after the penalty had been scored. D'Urso failed to act on his advice. The Football Association suspended D'Urso for 28 days from 27 August 2004 until 23 September 2004 (as well as suspending Ferguson for one-match) [cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3619252.stm | title=D'Urso is suspended | publisher=BBC Sport | accessdate=2006-11-14 | date=2004-09-01] , after which he vowed to carry on with his refereeing career [cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3650944.stm | title=D'Urso on comeback trail | publisher=BBC Sport | accessdate=2006-11-14 | date=2004-09-13] . D'Urso appealed, successfully, against the decision to relegate him from the Select Group but he was not selected for a single Premiership match in the 2005-06 season.

From then on, D'Urso refereed infrequently in the Premier League.

Fulham v Middlesbrough, 2007

Having been appointed as fourth official for this game at Craven Cottage on August 18 2007, and after taking over early in the match from the injury-stricken Lee Mason as man-in-the-middle, D'Urso was disadvantaged by the failure of his assistant referee, Ian Gosling, to spot that a shot in second-half stoppage time by David Healy, and parried on the goal-line by 'Boro goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, had in fact crossed the line but had then been scooped away by the Middlesbrough man. Although this did not affect D'Urso's status after the match, the assistant was suspended from top level officiating for the following weekend. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=476568&in_page_id=1779 "Linesman pays for Fulham goal-line error"] , Daily Mail, August 20 2007. Retrieved on August 20 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://www.soccerbase.com/refs2.sd?refid=138 Andy D'Urso Referee Statistics] at soccerbase.com