- Dermot Gallagher
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Dermot Gallagher 
Personal information Full name Dermot J Gallagher Born May 20, 1957
Ringsend, Dublin, IrelandDomestic Years League Role 1985–1990 Football League Asst. referee 1990–1992 Football League Referee 1992–2007 Premier League Referee International Years League Role 1994–2002 FIFA listed Referee Dermot J. Gallagher (born May 20, 1957[1] in Ringsend, Dublin, Ireland) is a retired English-based association football referee, who lives in Banbury, Oxfordshire. He refereed in the Premier League of English football until May 2007.
Contents
Career
Gallagher first took up the whistle in 1978 at the suggestion of an ex-Football League linesman called Dick Bartlett.[2] He was elected to the assistant referees' list of the Football League in 1985. Five years later he became a Football League referee at the age of only thirty-three. Even by his second season he was regularly handling top division games and was chosen for the new Premier League in 1992. He progressed to the FIFA list in 1994 after only three and a half seasons on the List.
His first ever Premiership appointment was the 2–0 away win by Coventry at Spurs on August 19, 1992, both goals being scored by John Williams.[3]
In 1995, he refereed the FA Charity Shield match between Everton and Blackburn Rovers at Wembley, which the 'Toffees' won with a Vinny Samways goal. In the same year, he was man-in-the-middle for the FA Trophy Final, also at Wembley, when Woking beat Kidderminster Harriers 2–1 after extra time. And to finish a busy year he was put in charge of the Under 20 World Cup Final in Qatar, which was won by Argentina in a 2–0 win over Brazil.
In 1996 he was selected to control the FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Manchester United at Wembley, which United won by an Eric Cantona goal to nil.[4] That summer he refereed in the European Championships in England. However he suffered a serious injury during a game and was then out of action until early 1997.
Despite being born in the Republic of Ireland, Gallagher was a representative of the (English) Football Association, and as such he was able to referee a friendly international between his birth country, the Republic of Ireland, and Russia on February 13, 2002, at Lansdowne Road. Referees are prohibited from officiating in international fixtures involving their representative country. He retired from the FIFA List on reaching the mandatory retirement age of forty-five at the end of that year.
Gallagher served out several more years as a Premier League referee with the unique distinction of having served on it every season since its inception. He was the first referee since 1994 to be granted an extension beyond the domestic retirement age of forty-eight in 2006.
Since the year 2006, he has officiated in the annual series of national six-a-side tournaments called Masters Football,[5] referees for which are FA endorsed. This competition features ex-professional footballers chosen by the PFA, and is televised on Sky TV.[6]
The last Premier League fixture that he refereed was the game between Liverpool and Charlton Athletic, which took place on May 13, 2007 and finished 2–2.[7]
He officiated a pre-season friendly for Cardiff City vs Swindon Town FC on July 28, 2008
After football
19 May 2007, St Albans Romans FC Vs Doncaster EC FC at Nene Park, Rushden & Diamonds FC.
In 2007, he refereed every game during the Sky TV charity seven-a-side football competition Premier League All Stars, which took place from September 23 to September 30, 2007, televised live on Sky One.[8]
Throughout 2008, Gallagher was appointed as the official referee for The England Legends ITV.,[9] in their matches against Scotland (At St. Mary's, Southampton), Germany (at Bramall Lane, Sheffield) and Ireland at Fulham's Craven Cottage on Thursday October 9.
In May 2008, he joined ITV1's Beat The Star as a competition referee.
He has appeared as a guest pundit on several editions of Sky Sports' Super Sunday programme, appearing on The Last Word supplement. Mostly being used to discuss and pass judgement on refereeing decisions during the game.
Statistics
Season Games Total 
per gameTotal 
per game1992/1993 7 9 1.28 0 0.00 1995/1996 21 40 1.90 2 0.09 1997/1998 29 71 2.44 2 0.06 1998/1999 33 98 2.96 5 0.15 1999/2000 35 89 2.54 6 0.17 2000/2001 39 100 2.56 8 0.20 2001/2002 34 88 2.58 4 0.11 2002/2003 35 107 3.05 5 0.14 2003/2004 34 77 2.26 6 0.17 2004/2005 36 80 2.22 5 0.13 2005/2006 43 96 2.23 9 0.20 2006/2007 32 61 1.90 5 0.15 See also
References
Print
- Football League Handbooks, 1985–1989
- Rothmans / Sky Sports Football Yearbooks, 1990–2006
Internet
- ^ Birthdate and profile: the Football League official website.
- ^ Birthplace confirmation, also earliest refereeing (1978): Irish Soccer Referees Society website.
- ^ First ever Premier League game: soccerbase.com website.
- ^ FA Cup Final 1996 at soccerbase.com website.
- ^ Masters Football involvement: from MastersFootball.com website.
- ^ About Masters Football: from MastersFootball.com website.
- ^ Last ever Premiership match, Liverpool v. Charlton: report, BBC.co.uk website.
- ^ Premier League All Stars, referee for the competition, 2007: SkyOne.co.uk website.
- ^ The Legends
External links
- Dermot Gallagher Referee Statistics at soccerbase.com
- 7 questions with Dermot Gallagher
Preceded by
Gerald AshbyFA Cup Final referee
1996Succeeded by
Stephen LodgeCategories:- 1957 births
- Living people
- Republic of Ireland football referees
- FA Cup Final referees
- People from County Dublin
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