Mark Clattenburg

Mark Clattenburg (born March 13 1975 in Consett, County Durham) is an English football referee, who operates in the Football League and the Premier League, and for FIFA. He is based in Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He trained as an electrician and is of part-Canadian ancestry. He is also an avid supporter of Newcastle United Football Club.

Career

He took up refereeing in 1990 as part of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, and became an assistant referee in the Northern League at the age of 18. A year later he was refereeing in that league. He became both a Football Conference referee and a Football League assistant referee in the year 1999, but was rapidly promoted to the National List of Football League referees in the year 2000. He had served only one year as an assistant - a record shared with Steve Baines - but his promise led to quicker promotion. His debut Football League match (at the age of just 25 - a one-time post-war record) was between Chesterfield and York City on August 12 2000, and Chesterfield ran out 4-1 winners. Clattenburg was then fourth official for the 2001-02 Division Three Play-off Final and the 2002-03 FA Trophy Final.

Also in the 2002-03 season, he was chosen to referee two play-off semi-finals - the Division One first-leg 1-1 draw between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United at the City Ground on May 10 2003, and the Division Two second leg home win by QPR over Oldham at Loftus Road on May 14 2003, which put Rangers through to the Final.

On May 15 2004, he was man-in-the-middle for the Division One play-off semi-final first leg between Ipswich and West Ham at Portman Road, which finished 1-0 to the home side, courtesy of a Darren Bent goal after 57 minutes. He followed this with his appointment at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on May 31 2004 for the Division Three play-off final contested by Mansfield Town and Huddersfield, which required a penalty shoot-out when the match finished 0-0 after extra time. Huddersfield won this by 4 penalties to 1. Also in 2004, he became a Select Group referee in the Premier League, and his first match at this level was the 3-1 away win by Everton against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on August 21 2004.

He became a FIFA referee in 2006, at the age of only thirty, reaching this distinction earlier than any English referee in living memory. He was then the referee for Alan Shearer's testimonial match on May 11 2006. He is a Newcastle United fan, and he is therefore not allowed to referee competitive games involving Newcastle. On September 9 2006, he took charge of a qualifying match for the 2007 European UEFA Under-16 Championship at the Gradski Stadium, Skopje, between FYR Macedonia and Denmark, the away side winning 3-0.

Clattenburg was appointed to control both legs of the 2006-07 FA Youth Cup Final, contested by Liverpool and Manchester United, firstly at Anfield on April 16 2007, which finished 1-2 in favour of United, and then at Old Trafford on April 26 2007 (0-1 to Liverpool). The aggregate scores being tied, Liverpool triumphed 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out which followed a goalless 30 minutes of extra time.

During the local derby match between Everton and Liverpool on October 20 2007, he made a number of controversial decisions including declining Everton's appeals for a penalty in the third minute of added time, with the score at 1-2, when Jamie Carragher appeared to hold back Everton's Joleon Lescott in the Liverpool six yard box.

Clattenburg was appointed to take charge of The FA Community Shield on 9 August 2008, with Dave Richardson and Ian Gosling assisting and Andre Marriner acting as fourth official. However, Clattenburg was suspended from refereeing, pending an investigation into alleged debts incurred by companies to which he is connected. The match between 2008 FA Cup winners Portsmouth and 2007/08 Premier League champions Manchester United took place at Wembley Stadium with Peter Walton as the replacement referee.

Career statistics

Season	Games	Total	per game	Total	per game
2000/2001	24	67	2.79	4	0.17
2001/2002	33	103	3.12	6	0.18
2002/2003	35	135	3.86	8	0.23
2003/2004	34	104	3.06	2	0.06
2004/2005	28	83	2.96	5	0.18
2005/2006	24	81	3.38	4	0.17
2006/2007	42	166	3.95	3	0.07
2007/2008	34	114	3.35	10	0.29

Life outside football

Clattenburg went to Cramlington High School, and was chosen to play football for them, as well as South Northumberland. He is divorced from his wife, Helen, with whom he lived in Chester-le-Street, and they had one son during the marriage. He subsequently moved to Gosforth.