Joe Ross (referee)

Joseph Ross (born December 28 1959) is an English former football referee, previously in the Football League, and also in the Premier League and Europe as an assistant referee. During his time as an official he resided in Chingford, Greater London. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/1581156.stm Place of residence] , example source: BBC.co.uk website.]

Career

Prior to his appointment to the National List of assistant referees in 1992, Ross had been refereeing in the Isthmian League. In 2000, he was a referees' assistant in the UEFA Cup. [ [http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0,,10794~628215,00.html Referee Profiles] : the Football League Official website.] Before the 2001–02 season, Ross progressed to the Football League list of referees.

However, in his first season on this list, he was involved in a dispute with former Liverpool player, and then Oxford United manager, Mark Wright, who claimed in the Oxford Mail that Ross should "not even be refereeing in the Unibond League", [ [http://archive.thisisdorset.net/2001/10/29/94803.html "Epic has Sean on tenterhooks"] : Dorset Echo, October 29 2001.] following a match between his team and Scunthorpe, after Ross handed out two red cards and, also according to the Oxford Mail report, made "a series of errors throughout the match and appeared to lose control near the end". Wright was later found guilty of racial and abusive language towards Ross, [ [http://archive.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/2001/11/26/51034.html "Football: FA admit 'racial element' in Wright case"] : "ThisIsOxfordshire.co.uk", November 26 2001.] and resigned from the job at Oxford United on December 12 2001. [ [http://www.kultureninbewegung.org/fairplay/fare/fairplay.htm?bulletin/engDec01.htm~content Racist Incidents: UK] : "Fairplay", December 2001.]

Ross remained as a Football League referee for four seasons, but at the start of the 2005-06 season he reverted back to the list of assistant referees, refereeing only one match, Yeading against St Albans, which was in the Football Conference South competition. [ [http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=479046 Yeading v. St Albans] , Football Conference South, his only match refereed in 2005-06: soccerbase.com website.]

He subsequently retired from refereeing, confirmed when the lists of referees and assistants for season 2007-08 were published without his inclusion. [ [http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ListOfOfficialsDetail/ List of referees for 2007-08] , excluding Joe Ross: the Football League Official website.] [ [http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ListOfOfficialsDetail/0,,10794~684795,00.html List of assistants for 2007-08] , excluding Joe Ross: the Football League Official website.]

References

External links

* [http://www.soccerbase.com/refs2.sd?refid=571 Joe Ross Referee Statistics] at soccerbase.com