David Elleray

Last updated

David Elleray
MBE
Full name David Roland Elleray
Born (1954-09-03) 3 September 1954 (age 70)
Dover, Kent, England
Other occupation Technical Director, IFAB
Domestic
YearsLeagueRole
?–? Hellenic League Referee
?–? Isthmian League Referee
1986–1992 The Football League Referee
1992–2003 Premier League Referee
International
YearsLeagueRole
1992–1999 FIFA listed Referee

David Roland Elleray, MBE (born 3 September 1954 [1] ), is an English former football referee who officiated in the Football League, Premier League and for FIFA. As of September 2021 he held the position of Technical Director at the IFAB. [2]

Contents

During his career as a prominent referee, Elleray officiated for a number of notable matches, including the FA Cup Final, the highest domestic honour for an English referee. Due to his Oxbridge background and "day job" as a teacher at a public school, Elleray has been described as "schoolmasterly" [3] and "posh" by the press. [4] His teaching role entailed time conflicts with his role as a leading referee before his retirement. He has periodically advised football boards. [5]

Early life

Born in Dover, Kent, Elleray was educated at Dover Grammar School for Boys where he excelled at a range of sports and started refereeing football games at the age of 13 to earn extra pocket money. [3] [6] [7] He gained a scholarship to read geography at Hertford College, Oxford and was a keen rugby player and rower. [8] While at university, he was promoted through the Hellenic, Isthmian and Panel Leagues and eventually became a referee for The Football League in 1986. He remained there until his inclusion on the original Premier League Referees' List in 1992, and also became a FIFA referee in that year. [9]

Career

Elleray is a career geography teacher and spent over thirty years at Harrow School, where he held various positions, such as head of geography, director of boarding, and housemaster of Druries House, [10] before his retirement in 2009. Early in his teaching career, he was noted for controversially reintroducing in 1977 football (which had not been played there since 1927) at Harrow, a school better known for its rugby and cricket traditions. [11] [3]

Elleray stepped down as a FIFA-listed referee in 1999, having officiated 78 international matches in 35 countries. He officiated at Wembley Stadium 13 times but was unable to officiate at the 1998 World Cup in France due to school commitments. [3] [12]

During his refereeing career, Elleray is remembered for a number of incidents, including awarding a dubious penalty kick to Manchester United in the 1994 FA Cup Final against Chelsea. [13] Elleray later admitted in his autobiography that he "blew without thinking" and although he knew he had made a mistake, he could not change his mind. [12] [14]

In 1997, Elleray was yet again at the centre of controversy when, during the FA Cup Semi-final between third-tier's Chesterfield FC and Premier League's Middlesbrough FC, he failed to award a goal to Chesterfield after the ball had clearly bounced over the line and surprisingly, awarded a free-kick to Middlesbrough instead. The match finished 3-3, with Middlesbrough winning the replay 3-0, thus ending Chesterfield's hopes of reaching the final. [15] [16]

He was the referee when Ryan Giggs scored his 'wonder goal' in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay against Arsenal at Villa Park, and when David Beckham scored from inside his own half against Wimbledon in 1996. [17] Even though he sent off Manchester United's Roy Keane four times, after Elleray retired, in 2003, Keane sent him a letter wishing him well and a signed jersey. [12] [4] In 2024, while working as a pundit in the Stick to Football podcast, Keane along with Gary Neville implied that Elleray's multiple red cards to Keane represented "a class system thing," with Ian Wright concurring: "I got the same vibe." [18]

In 1999, Elleray received death threats from Manchester United supporters after Liverpool made a comeback which could have prevented their team winning the title. He'd awarded Liverpool a dubious penalty and then sent Denis Irwin off for attempting a pass because the player ostensibly had not seen the official's flag. Liverpool equalized the game to 2–2. Martin Edwards, United's chairman, suggested that a winners' medal be made for Elleray should Arsenal win the league. The result however did not impact United's pole position, or their winning the title that season, with Arsenal losing at Leeds a few days later.

In 2002, he gave then 17 year old Wayne Rooney his first ever red card. [19] The same year, Elleray was voted onto the FA Council as representative of independent schools. [20]

He retired from refereeing at the end of the 2002–03 season. His last match was Newcastle United's 1–0 win over Birmingham on 3 May 2003, during which he sent off Blues defender Matthew Upson. [21]

In 2003, Premier League referee Jeff Winter wrote that Elleray, who was at the forefront of English and world refereeing for well over a decade, gained the reputation of being "very strict" on the field but "the respect he has from the players shows that his approach has been fair, firm and consistent," and cited Elleray as "an example" to referees. [22]

Post-retirement

In 2004, Elleray accepted the position as Honorary President of the Board of the Referees' Association of England for three years, [20] and was a FIFA and UEFA referee assessor and instructor. He was chairman of the Independent Schools Football Association. [23]

Elleray was awarded an honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University in 2010. [24] He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to football. [25]

He has held the position of Technical Director for the International Football Association Board since at least May 2016. [2]

One of the most recognisable figures in English football, Elleray's life featured in an award-winning documentary, The Man in Black, for Channel 4.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Robert Styles is an English football Referee from Waterlooville, Hampshire. Throughout his career he officiated in the multiple lower level leagues before making the national list in 1996. He refereed his first FA Premier League game in 2000, and became FIFA listed in 2002. Styles retired from refereeing in 2009.

Shamsul Maidin is a Singaporean association football referee. He first became a referee in 1996 and retired in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Riley (referee)</span> English football referee

Michael Anthony Riley is an English former professional football referee, who has refereed matches in the English Football League, Premier League, and for FIFA. Riley was the general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited between 2009 and 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Webb</span> English football referee

Howard Melton Webb MBE is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014.

Andrew Paul D'Urso is an English former football referee in the Football League. D'Urso is based in Billericay, Essex and is a member of the Barking & Dagenham Referees Society. He retired at the end of the 2014–15 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Dean (referee)</span> English football referee

Mike Dean is an English former professional football referee and currently a video assistant referee (VAR) primarily in the Premier League. He is based in Heswall, Wirral, in North West England, and is a member of the Cheshire County Football Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andre Marriner</span> English football referee

Andre Marriner is a retired English professional football referee based in Solihull, West Midlands. He is a member of the Birmingham County Football Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FA Cup Final referees</span>

In English football, the FA Cup Final, the deciding match of the FA Cup competition, is considered the highest domestic honour for referees to be appointed to officiate.

George Courtney MBE is an English former football referee based in Spennymoor, County Durham.

Philip Don is a former football referee and school headteacher from England. Don was originally from Sheffield but his teaching career took him south to Middlesex. He is counted amongst the top 100 referees of all time in a list maintained by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).

Graham P. Barber is an English former football referee. He was based in Tring in Hertfordshire during his career, but now lives in Spain.

Stephen John Lodge is an English former football referee, who retired from top-flight officiating at the end of the 2000-2001 season. He lives in Barnsley, Yorkshire, has a wife and one son, and works as a local government officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Jones (referee)</span> English football referee

Peter Jones ) is a former English football referee, who retired from officiating at the end of the 2001–02 season. He lives in Quorn, near Loughborough, Leicestershire, and works as a referee assessor.

Robert J. Harris is an English former football referee who operated in the Football League and Premier League. He was for a time regarded as one of the best linesman on the Premier League, before his promotion to first the Football League and then the Premier League referees lists. But his Premier League referee period did not go well as he was the recipient of criticism for some very high-profile contentious incidents at Arsenal, West Ham and Tranmere which without doubt disrupted his time on the referees list. During his refereeing career he was mainly based in the city of Oxford.

Keith Paul Stroud is a professional English football referee who officiates in the Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Taylor (referee)</span> English football referee (born 1978)

Anthony Taylor is an English professional football referee from Wythenshawe, Manchester. In 2010, he was promoted to the list of Select Group Referees who officiate primarily in the Premier League, and in 2013 became a listed referee for FIFA allowing him to referee European and international matches. In 2015, he officiated the Football League Cup final at Wembley Stadium when Chelsea defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2–0. Taylor returned to Wembley later that year to officiate the Community Shield as Arsenal beat Chelsea 1–0. He refereed the 2017 and 2020 FA Cup finals, both between Chelsea and Arsenal; Arsenal won on both occasions 2–1. Upon the selection, he became the first man to referee a second FA Cup final since Arthur Kingscott in 1901.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1998–99 FA Cup</span> Football tournament season

The 1998–99 FA Cup was the 118th season of the FA Cup. The title defenders were Arsenal, who were eliminated in a semi-final replay by eventual winners Manchester United, who beat Newcastle United 2–0 in the final at the old Wembley Stadium. The goals were scored by Teddy Sheringham after 11 minutes, less than two minutes after coming on as a substitute for Roy Keane, and Paul Scholes on 53 minutes. It was the second leg of a historic treble for Manchester United; having already won the Premier League title the previous weekend, they went on to win the Champions League the following Wednesday.

The 1996–97 FA Cup was the 116th season of the FA Cup. The tournament started in August 1996 for clubs from non-league football and the competition proper started in October 1996 for teams from the Premier League and the Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Oliver (referee)</span> English football referee

Michael Oliver is an English professional football referee from Ashington, Northumberland. His county FA is the Northumberland Football Association. He belongs to the Select Group of Referees in England and officiates primarily in the Premier League. He received his FIFA badge in 2012, allowing him to officiate in major international matches. Oliver was appointed to take charge of the final of the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Oliver was promoted to the UEFA Elite Group of Referees in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Pawson</span> English football referee (born 1979)

Craig Pawson is an English professional football referee who officiates primarily in the Premier League, having been promoted to the panel of Select Group Referees in 2013, as well as in the Football League.

References

  1. "David Elleray » Matches as referee". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 "IFAB Organisation". International Football Association Board. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Wragg, Ted (5 June 1998). "Whistle while you work". Times Educational Supplement. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Sporting Spotlight: David Elleray". BBC Sport. 27 March 2013.
  5. "David Elleray, Türk Hakemlik Sistemine ilişkin raporunu sundu - Hakemler Detay Sayfası TFF". www.tff.org. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  6. "My Sport: David Elleray". The Daily Telegraph . 13 May 2003.
  7. "OPA Newsletter Jan 2005". Old Pharosians Association. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  8. "U is for umpires (referees and other officials)". campaign.ox.ac.uk. August 2011. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
  9. Interview: Singer & Friedlander (at the University of Leicester).
  10. "Sport Football: Men in the middle of an official revolution". The Independent . 27 September 1998.
  11. "Old Harrovians Association FC history". Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 "Triumph and despair". The Observer. 1 August 2004.
  13. Controversial penalty to Man Utd, 1994 FA Cup Final, v. Chelsea: match details from ManUtdZone.com website.
  14. Elleray, David (2004). The Man in the Middle. Time Warner Books. p. 116. ISBN   0-316-72714-8.
  15. "'We were in dreamland' - when Chesterfield almost made FA Cup history". BBC Sport.
  16. "Football: Referee Elleray admits 'the ball crossed the line'". Independent.co.uk . 13 April 1997.
  17. "David Elleray". Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  18. "Roy Keane talks through all his red cards". Stick to Football. YouTube. 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024. [Elleray] was looking down on me.
  19. Apicella, Liam (29 September 2004). "Wayne Rooney's red cards". SportsMole. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  20. 1 2 Biographical Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine quotes: Forum at OfficialSports.co.uk website.
  21. Last match Archived 19 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine as referee, Newcastle v. Birmingham, 2003: soccerbase.com website.
  22. Winter, Jeff (5 May 2003). "Refs hear final whistle". BBC . Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  23. "ISFA Officials & Executive Committee". Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  24. "Honorary doctorate means I've gone from ref to rap". shu.ac.uk. 19 November 2010. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  25. "No. 60895". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2014. p. b18.
  26. "The day Elleray went to the Cup final in disguise". The Independent . 5 September 2004. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013.
Preceded by FA Cup Final  Referee
1994
Succeeded by