Tony Ward (referee)

Last updated
Tony Ward
Born (1941-12-05) 5 December 1941 (age 82)
Domestic
YearsLeagueRole
1962 South East Counties, Spartan, Athenian and Isthmian leagues
1974 Football League Linesman
1990 Football League Referee

Tony Ward (born 5 December 1941 in Highgate, London) is a former football referee and assistant referee. During his career he officiated in the English Football League and Premier League, as well as in FIFA-sanctioned matches. [1] He resided in New Southgate, London.

Contents

Career

Ward started his career in 1962, serving the South East Counties, Spartan, Athenian and Isthmian leagues, before becoming a Football League linesman in 1974. His first match was a Second Division game between Portsmouth and Nottingham Forest. In 1980, he was promoted to the Referees List of the Football League; his first match was between Lincoln City and Wigan Athletic.

Ward reached the normal retirement age of 48 in 1990, but he was retained for a further three seasons along with other high-performing referees. He did not have Premier League appointments initially on its formation in 1992-1993 but was regularly chosen for matches in the second half of the season. His final match was Liverpool v Coventry City in April 1993.

When Arsenal moved from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium in 2006, he was appointed Arsenal’s Hon Referees Liaison Officer.

Appointments

Ward's notable appointments include:

Testimonial Matches

In addition to Robin Wainwright and George Parish, Ward refereed testimonial matches for:

Deliberate handball

Ward became the first referee to dismiss a player for deliberate handball when he sent off Reading player Lawrie Sanchez in a match against Oxford in August 1982. Ten days later he dismissed Colin Todd of Nottingham Forest against Manchester United; Todd became the first Division One player to be sent off for handball.

Numbers board

As fourth official for England v Ireland in 1986 Ward was the first official to use the numbers board for substitutions, the referee was Clive Thomas of Wales.

Private life

He married in August 1963, and has two children and four grandchildren.[ citation needed ] He worked for 35 years for Mirror Group Newspapers. He is a keen follower of cricket and baseball.

Related Research Articles

Raymond Kennedy was an English footballer who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Kennedy played as a forward for Arsenal, and then played as a left-sided midfielder for Liverpool. He scored 148 goals in 581 league and cup appearances in a 15-year career in the English Football League and also won 17 caps for England between 1976 and 1980, scoring three international goals.

The 1978–79 season was the 99th season of competitive football in England.

<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.

Keith Stuart Hackett is an English former football referee, who began refereeing in local leagues in the Sheffield, South Yorkshire area in 1960. 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).

Kevin Howley was an English football referee from Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, who officiated from 1954 to 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1993 Football League Cup final</span> Football match

The 1993 Football League Cup final took place on 18 April 1993 at Wembley Stadium, and was played between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday. Arsenal won 2–1 in normal time, in what was the first of three Wembley finals between the two sides that season; Arsenal and Wednesday also met in the FA Cup final of that year, the first time ever in English football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 FA Cup final</span> Association football championship match between Chelsea and Manchester United, held in 2007

The 2007 FA Cup final was played on Saturday, 19 May 2007 between Chelsea and Manchester United. It was the 126th FA Cup Final and the first to be played at the new Wembley Stadium. Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 thanks to an extra-time goal from Didier Drogba, completing a domestic cup double for the Blues in the 2006–07 season, as they had already won the League Cup Final in February. Manchester United were favourite for winning a double of their own as they had recently beaten Chelsea to the Premier League title two weeks earlier. The game was widely considered to be a disappointment by pundits and fans alike. As a result of Manchester United and Chelsea having already been guaranteed qualification for the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup entry for the FA Cup winner/runner-up went instead to the highest positioned Premier League team who had not already qualified for Europe: Bolton Wanderers.

Patrick Partridge BEM was an English football referee, and former President of the Association of Football League Referees and Linesmen. His occupation outside football was as a farmer.

Keren P. J. Barratt is an English former football referee, who operated in the Football League and Premier League. He was based in Coventry, West Midlands, during his time on the List.

Allan Gunn was an English football referee in the Football League, Premier League, and for FIFA. During his time on the List he was based in Sussex, initially Burgess Hill and later Chailey, near Lewes. Prior to refereeing he was a successful non-league footballer.

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.

Terence Holbrook is an English football referee formerly in the Football League and Premier League. During his refereeing career he was based in Walsall, and subsequently Wolverhampton, both in the West Midlands.

Gordon Cecil Kew was an English football referee in the Football League and for FIFA. During his refereeing career he was based in Leeds, Yorkshire, then Amersham, Buckinghamshire, and, for his final season, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire.

Ray Lewis is a former referee in the Football League, Premier League and at FIFA level. He is currently the Chairman of the FA League Committee.

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.

Joseph Bertram Worrall is an English former football referee, who operated in the Football League and for FIFA. He comes from Warrington in Lancashire, and has the distinction of having refereed both of the major club competition Finals in England.

The 1990–91 FA Cup was the 110th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup for short. Tottenham Hotspur won the competition after coming from 1–0 behind in the final against Nottingham Forest to win 2–1 and take the trophy. It gave Tottenham their eighth victory in nine FA Cup Finals and their first since their wins in 1981 and 1982.

David Hutchinson is a former English football referee who served on the list from 1978 to 1990. Arguably the most notable match refereed by Hutchinson was the last game of the 1988–89 season between Arsenal and Liverpool, one of the most famous games in the history of English football.

The 1992–93 season was Arsenal Football Club's 67th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. Arsenal finished tenth in the Premier League, but won the FA Cup and League Cup. Ian Wright was Arsenal's top scorer.

Paul Rejer is an English former football referee.

References

  1. "News Archive". Enfield Town Football Club. February 2003. Retrieved 2 December 2011.