Mark Halsey

Mark Halsey

Personal information
Full name	Mark R. Halsey
Born	8 July 1961 (1961-07-08) (age 50) Welwyn Garden City, England
Domestic
Years	League	Role
mid 1990s-1999	Football League	Referee
1999-	Premier League	Referee
International
Years	League	Role
2000-2006	FIFA listed	Referee

Mark R. Halsey (born 8 July 1961^[1]) is an English professional football referee who officiates primarily in the Premier League. He was formerly based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, currently in Bolton, Lancashire.^[2]

Halsey has refereed a number of notable matches, including the FA Community Shield in 2007 and the 2008 final of the Football League Cup.

Career

Halsey, a native of Hertfordshire, spent 12 years playing non-league football with teams such as Cambridge City and Hertford Town before he started refereeing in 1989. In December 1984 he played one game for Barnet before joining St. Albans City. In the early 1990s Halsey trained with Barnet in Potters Bar to keep himself prepared for the rigours of officiating top flight games.^{[citation needed]}

Halsey has been a National List referee for the Football League since the mid-1990s.^[2] He refereed the 1999 Division 2 play-off final between Gillingham and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium on 30 May, which City won 3-1 on penalties, the match finishing 2-2 after extra time.^[3]

Also in that year, he was promoted to become a Premier League referee, his first appointment overseeing the 1-1 draw between Wimbledon and Coventry City on 14 August.^[4]

In 2000, Halsey was added to the FIFA List of referees, officiating in the Toulon Tournament in the same year. In 2001 he was a referee for the football tournament at the World Student Games in Beijing, and in 2002 at the FIFA World Disabled Championships held in Japan.^[5]

Also in 2002, he was appointed as fourth official to Mike Riley for the FA Cup Final on 4 May at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, where Arsenal defeated Chelsea 2-0.^[6]

Halsey's first major FIFA appointment came in 2004 when he refereed a friendly match between Belgium and France in Brussels.^[5][7]

In August 2009 it was announced that Halsey was suffering from lymphoma of the glands and had undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumour in his throat, currently in remission. He relinquished his refereeing duties during treatment.^[8]

In 2010, on 4 March Halsey passed a referee fitness test. His first game back after his illness was Leicester City Reserves against Scunthorpe United Reserves. Halsey was due to referee the League 2 match between Accrington Stanley and Barnet on 30 March, however it was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch. He returned to oversee the League 2 fixture between Rotherham United and Port Vale on 3 April.^[9] On 9 August it was confirmed that Halsey was to return to officiating in the Premier League, starting with the opening-day fixture, five days later, between Wigan Athletic and Blackpool.^[10]

FA Community Shield 2007

In 2007 Halsey took charge of the FA Community Shield match between Manchester United and Chelsea.

5 August 2007 15:00	Chelsea	1 – 1	Manchester United	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 80,731
	Malouda  45' Ben Haim 33' Carvalho 63' Obi Mikel 90+1'	Report	Giggs  35' Rooney 45+3'
		Penalties
	Pizarro Lampard Wright-Phillips	0 – 3	Ferdinand Carrick Rooney

League Cup final 2008

In 2008 Halsey was appointed to referee the League Cup final between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

One incident of note which Halsey was required to act upon was the guidance given by assistant referee Martin Yerby which led to a penalty kick being awarded to Tottenham in the 70th minute when Chelsea's Wayne Bridge handled the ball. The penalty was converted to bring Tottenham back onto level terms and ultimately take the game into extra time.^[11]

Some Chelsea players and staff were also unhappy with the timing of the full time whistle. The fourth official indicated a minimum of three minutes of injury time to be played, and Halsey blew the whistle just as Salomon Kalou was entering the Tottenham penalty area with the ball.^[12] However, Law 5 of the Laws of the Game indicates that the referee may blow his whistle at any time, and he does not have to wait for an attack to finish.^[13] Kalou hit the post with his shot and the game was over.

29 January 2008 15:00	Chelsea	1 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Tottenham Hotspur	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 87,660
	Drogba  39' Obi 96' Carvalho 104'	Report	Berbatov  70' (pen.) Woodgate  94' Zokora 38' Tainio 116' Lennon 120' Jenas 120'

Card statistics

Season	Games	Total	per game	Total	per game
1997/98	42	161	3.83	5	0.11
1998/99	46	111	2.41	2	0.04
1999/00	38	96	2.52	8	0.21
2000/01	33	101	3.06	10	0.30
2001/02	37	118	3.18	7	0.18
2002/03	34	75	2.20	6	0.17
2003/04	41	81	1.97	5	0.12
2004/05	32	60	1.87	2	0.06
2005/06	38	54	1.42	6	0.15
2006/07	42	103	2.45	9	0.21
2007/08	41	86	2.09	5	0.12
2008/09	44	73	1.65	3	0.06
2009/10	6	8	1.33	0	0.00
2010/11	34	68	2.00	1	0.03
2011/12

Statistics are for all competitions. There are no available records prior to 1997/98.

See also

• List of football referees

References

1. ^ Birthdate confirmation: zerozero.pt website.
2. ^ ^{a b} Places of residence and Football League list mentions: Newcastle-Online.com website.
3. ^ 1999 Championship Play-off Final: soccerbase.com website.
4. ^ First ever Premier League appointment: soccerbase.com website.
5. ^ ^{a b} Profile: YNWA website.
6. ^ 2002 FA Cup Final match report: CNNSI.com website.
7. ^ Belgium v. France, 2004: FootballUnited website.
8. ^ Referee Mark Halsey speaks out after learning cancer is in remission, 6th Dec 2009, The Bolton News
9. ^ [Mark Halsey "Referee Mark Halsey makes emotional return"]. BBC Sport. 4 April 2010. Mark Halsey. Retrieved 4 April 2010. 
10. ^ "Halsey Takes Charge". Blackpool F.C.. 9 August 2010. http://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10432~2116423,00.html. Retrieved 11 August 2010. 
11. ^ Carling Cup Final, penalty awarded to Tottenham: match report from the Daily Record website. Retrieved on 25 February 2008.
12. ^ Criticism from Peter Cech about when Halsey ended the game: Eurosport website. Retrieved on 26 February 2008.^{[dead link]}
13. ^ "Law 5 – The Referee" (including timekeeping powers): TheFA.com website. Retrieved on 26 February 2008.

External links

• Mark Halsey Profile at Refworld.com
• Mark Halsey Profile at RateTheRef.net
• Mark Halsey Referee Statistics at soccerbase.com
• Three-way interview, along with Dermot Gallagher and Mark Clattenburg, at FourFourTwo.com

Preceded by Martin Atkinson	FA Community Shield 2007	Succeeded by Peter Walton
Preceded by Howard Webb	Carling Cup Final 2008	Succeeded by Chris Foy

Persondata
Name	Halsey, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	8 July 1961
Place of birth	Welwyn Garden City, England
Date of death
Place of death