Michael Hester

Last updated

Mike Hester
Full name Michael Hester
Born (1972-05-02) 2 May 1972 (age 51)
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Other occupation Naval officer
Domestic
YearsLeagueRole
2004–2011 NZFC Referee
2004–2005 National Premier Leagues NSW Referee
2008–2011 A-League Referee
International
YearsLeagueRole
2007–2011 FIFA listed Referee

Michael Hester (born 2 May 1972), is a former New Zealand association football referee in the A-League. Holder of a FIFA international licence, he has participated at the highest level, officiating at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Contents

Biography

Hester has been a NZFC certified referee since 2004 and gained his FIFA international qualification in January 2007. [1] He refereed some games in the 2008 Summer Olympics, [2] [3] and has also refereed matches in the Oceania qualification group for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. [4]

He was also appointed as a referee for the 2009 FIFA Under 17 World Cup in Nigeria. [5]

Hester was included on the short list to officiate at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa along with fellow New Zealand referee Peter O'Leary, [6] both of whom were confirmed in the final 30 officials to take charge at the finals. [7] On 12 June 2010 he refereed the FIFA World Cup game between Greece and South Korea. [8] Hester blew the final whistle on his refereeing career at the end of the 2011 New Zealand winter season to focus on his career in the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Personal life

He has worked, besides his football career, as a naval officer in Auckland, and played both Rugby union [9] and football before turning to officiating. [10]

Honours

Related Research Articles

The 2004 OFC Nations Cup was the edition of the tournament for the OFC Nations Cup and doubled as the qualification tournament to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, except the two-legged final. A separate playoff between Australia and Solomon Islands was held in September 2005, for World Cup Qualifying purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Football</span> Sports governing body for association football in New Zealand

New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand men's national football team, the national junior and women's teams, the men's and women's national Leagues New Zealand National League, National Women's League, and a number of tournaments, including the Chatham Cup and Kate Sheppard Cup. A New Zealand team, Wellington Phoenix FC who plays in the Australian A-League also comes under New Zealand Football jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Vicelich</span> New Zealand footballer

Ivan Robert Vicelich is a former New Zealand professional footballer.

Tom Henning Øvrebø is a Norwegian former football referee who has officiated matches in the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. He's been elected in UEFA's top category of Elite Referee. Øvrebø has worked outside football as a qualified psychologist. His refereeing performance in the 2009 Champions League semi final between Chelsea and Barcelona is widely regarded as one of the worst refereeing performances of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Atkinson</span> English professional football referee

Martin Atkinson is an English referee coach and retired professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League. He is a member of the West Riding County Football Association.

Jorge Luis Larrionda Pietrafesa is a retired FIFA football referee from Uruguay who has officiated at international matches since 1998. He officiated at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he took charge of four matches, including a semifinal between Portugal and France. He is known as a strict referee who shows a high number of cards.

Matthew Christopher Breeze is an Australian association football referee. He is also a barrister and a former police prosecutor.

The 2008 OFC Nations Cup was the eighth edition of the OFC Nations Cup and the first under a new format. It took place as a series of as a home-and-away round-robin tournament on FIFA match dates in 2007 and 2008. Doubling as the qualification tournament for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the tournament was substantially different from earlier editions: 2004 champions Australia did not compete after leaving the Oceania Football Confederation for the Asian Football Confederation and for the first time since the 1996 OFC Nations Cup, no fixed venue was used. Unlike the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, which had featured six teams from the Oceania Football Confederation, the 2008 tournament had just four.

Carlos Alberto Batres González is a Guatemalan football referee. He has refereed FIFA World Cup qualification and final tournament matches, and at Olympic tournaments.

The 2007 Pacific Games men's football tournament was held at the Toleafoa J.S. Blatter Complex in Apia, Samoa in from 25 August to 7 September 2007.

Peter O'Leary is a New Zealand former Association football referee, previously of Wellington but now is residing and working in Hamilton. He operated in the Australian A-League and the New Zealand Football Championship, and his other occupation is as a teacher and deputy principal at Hamilton's Melville High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravshan Irmatov</span> Uzbek professional football referee

Ravshan Sayfiddinovich Irmatov is an Uzbek professional football referee. He officiated in the Uzbek League from 2000-2019 and internationally from 2003-2019. Irmatov holds the record for officiating the most FIFA World Cup matches with 11.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuichi Nishimura</span> Japanese football referee

Yuichi Nishimura is a Japanese football referee. He has refereed in the Japanese J. League Division 1 since 1999 and has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2004. He refereed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he was appointed to several prestigious matches, including as fourth official on the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final. He also refereed the opening game in the 2014 FIFA World Cup between hosts Brazil and Croatia, his poor performance in which was criticized. He refereed the second leg of the 2014 AFC Champions League final between Al Hilal and Western Sydney FC.

The 2008–09 OFC Champions League was the 8th edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 3rd season under the current OFC Champions League name. The competition consisted of a home and away group stage, followed by a knockout round. It took place from 2 November 2008 until 3 May 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Beath</span> Australian soccer referee

Chris James Beath is an Australian football referee in the A-League.

The 2012 OFC Nations Cup was the ninth edition of the OFC Nations Cup organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The group stage of the tournament also doubled as the second round of the OFC qualification tournament for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The four semi-finalists advanced to the final round of OFC qualifying, where they would compete for the OFC spot in the inter-confederation play-offs. The qualifying tournament was to be the football competition at the 2011 Pacific Games in Nouméa, New Caledonia. However, in June 2011 the format was amended, and the Pacific Games were no longer part of the qualification process. The new structure saw four of the lowest ranked entrants play a single round-robin tournament from 22 to 26 November 2011 in Samoa. The winner of this qualifying stage joined the other seven teams that received a bye to the Nations Cup proper.

Lencie Fred is the current Referee Development Officer of the Vanuatu Football Federation. Fred is a former international association football referee from Vanuatu. He was the first referee from his country to be included on the FIFA list of referees. Fred started refereeing at a young age and was named as an assistant referee for the 1996 Summer Olympics. He assisted Pierluigi Collina in the final of that competition between Nigeria and Argentina, allowing a controversial late winning goal for Nigeria. Two years later, he was selected to be an assistant at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and officiated five games during the tournament, including the third place match between Netherlands and Croatia.

Officials for the 2010 FIFA World Cup are selected from a pool of 30 trios of referees and assistant referees announced by the association football governing body, FIFA, on 5 February 2010. The final cut was selected from a group of 38 referees revealed in October 2008, themselves whittled down from an initial group of 54 selected for the Refereeing Assistance Programme in 2007. From the quarter-finals onwards, the pool of referees was reduced to 19.

Chris Kerr is a retired FIFA referee, from Auckland, New Zealand. He officiated on the ISPS Handa Premiership, the national football competition of New Zealand, and is also a former OFC Champions League referee in the Oceania Football Confederation. His occupation is as a Systems Engineer.

Anna-Marie Keighley is an association football referee from Taranaki, New Zealand. She has officiated matches at the international level since 2010, including the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Summer Olympics. Outside of refereeing, she is a school teacher at Rototuna Senior High School.

References

  1. Michael Hester
  2. "Match report – USA vs Netherlands". FIFA. 10 August 2008. Archived from the original on 13 August 2008.
  3. "Biography – Michal Hester". World Referee. 25 October 2008.
  4. WorldReferee.com – referee – Michael Hester – bio
  5. Match report, Mexico Switzerland
  6. "Refs O'Leary and Hester on FIFA World Cup short list". Oceania Football Confederation. 25 October 2008. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008.
  7. "NZ referees selected for football World Cup". NZPA. 6 February 2010.
  8. "NZ ref makes history". Sportal NZ. 12 June 2010.
  9. "Michael Hester: Referee". FIFA. 12 June 2010. Archived from the original on 30 May 2009.
  10. 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa, Referees Statistical Kit 3
  11. RNZN – NZDF Sports Awards