Martin Atkinson (born 31 March 1971) 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.[1]
 Atkinson in 2014 | |||
| Full name | Martin Atkinson | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
31 March 1971 Drighlington, West Riding of Yorkshire,[a] England | ||
| Other occupation | Teacher | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1998–2000 |
 Football League | Assistant referee | |
| 2000–2003 |
Premier League | Assistant referee | |
| 2002–2003 |
Football Conference | Referee | |
| 2003–2005 |
Football League | Referee | |
| 2005–2022 |
Premier League | Referee | |
| 2022–present |
Premier League | Referee coach | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2006–2018 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
Atkinson made his first appearance as an official in the Football League as an assistant referee in 1995. Since he was promoted to the list of Select Group Referees in 2004 he refereed a number of notable matches, including the FA Community Shield and the finals of the FA Trophy, Football League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Europa League. Atkinson retired from field duties at the end of the 2021–22 season and will coach the select group one referees for Premier League in the 2022–23 season.[2]
Career
editAtkinson started his refereeing career at the relatively early age of 16 years, as the local team did not have a referee to oversee matches. By 1998, he had been promoted to the Football League's list of assistant referees.
This was followed in 2000 by promotion to the Select Group of assistant referees. By December 2002 he was refereeing Football Conference matches,[3] and also refereed the 2003 FA County Youth Cup final.[4]
At the start of the 2003–04 season, Atkinson joined the national list of referees. He had the distinction of not sending off any player from the field of play between August 2004 and October 2005.
Atkinson made his Premier League officiating debut on 18 September 2004 in a match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City.[citation needed]
During the three seasons between 2003 and 2006, Atkinson issued only eight red cards in 102 matches, an average of less than 0.08 per game.
In 2006 Atkinson was appointed to the list of FIFA referees.[5]
The 2009–10 season saw Atkinson referee 48 matches in English football, his highest tally of appointments in one season to date.
In September 2010, Atkinson was handed a one-week demotion to the role of fourth official after a time-keeping dispute with Everton manager David Moyes. Everton had scored two injury-time goals to make the score 3–3 against Manchester United, but Atkinson then blew his final whistle while Everton were midway through an attack with a chance of a winner.[6][better source needed]
On 22 May 2022, Atkinson was in charge of his final Premier league match, between Crystal Palace and Manchester United at Selhurst Park, which also happens to be the ground he made his debut 17 years ago.[citation needed] At the time of his retirement, he had refereed 462 games in the Premier league, which is second highest in the competition, after Mike Dean's 560.[citation needed]
2006 FA Community Shield
editAtkinson refereed the 2006 FA Community Shield match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Liverpool defeated Chelsea 2–1, with Atkinson issuing four yellow cards during the course of the game.[7]
| Chelsea | 1–2 | Liverpool |
|---|---|---|
Shevchenko  44' Ballack  7' Lampard 15' Diarra 68' |
(Report) | Riise 9' Crouch 80' Alonso 61' |
2008 FA Trophy final
editAtkinson was appointed to referee the 2008 FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium, which was contested between Ebbsfleet United and Torquay United.[8]
| Ebbsfleet United | 1–0 | Torquay United |
|---|---|---|
| McPhee 45' Smith McCarthy Moore |
(Report) | Rice |
2011 FA Cup final
editAtkinson was appointed to officiate the 2011 FA Cup final. Manchester City defeated Stoke City 1–0; Atkinson issued two yellow cards to two Stoke players during the match.
| Manchester City | 1–0 | Stoke City |
|---|---|---|
| Y. Touré 74' |
Report | Wilkinson 76' Huth 40' |
2014 Football League Cup final
editAtkinson refereed the 2014 Football League Cup final between Manchester City and Sunderland. City won the match 3–1 and Atkinson cautioned two players, both late in the second half.
| Manchester City | 3–1 | Sunderland |
|---|---|---|
| Touré 55' Nasri 56'Navas 90'Negredo 90' |
Report | Borini 10' Alonso 90' |
Europe and international
editOn 13 October 2007, Atkinson refereed a group C qualifier for Euro 2008 between Moldova and Turkey. The game in the Moldovan capital Chişinău ended a 1–1 draw, with the referee showing two yellow cards.
The 2008–09 season was the first that Atkinson took charge of UEFA Champions League games. That season he refereed four matches, including FC Zürich against Real Madrid and Inter Milan versus Dynamo Kyiv.[9] In 2010 Atkinson was fourth official to Howard Webb for the Champions League final in Madrid. He issued his first Champions League red card on 5 April 2011, to Cristian Chivu of Inter Milan as they lost 5–2 at home to Schalke.
Atkinson officiated multiple matches during 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification, including the UEFA group 4 qualifying game between Germany and Finland in Hamburg on 14 October 2009 which ended 1–1.[10] One month later, he officiated Portugal's 1–0 qualifying win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He officiated at Euro 2012 as an additional assistant referee in a team with referee Howard Webb.[11]
The referee abandoned a Euro 2016 qualifying match in Belgrade between Serbia and Albania on 14 October 2014 when violence on the pitch and crowd disturbances broke out after a quadcopter was flown over the pitch bearing a flag of Greater Albania.[12]
On 27 May 2015, Atkinson was in charge of the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final between Sevilla and Dnipro. Seville won 3-2 and defended their title.
Atkinson refereed 3 games at Euro 2016: Germany v Ukraine and Hungary v Portugal at group stage, as well as a round of 16 game between Wales and Northern Ireland.
With no English officials being selected for the 2018 World Cup, the first time since 1938,[13] Atkinson refereed his last international match in March 2018, a friendly between Argentina and Italy at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.[14] Atkinson would referee the Manchester Derby at the same stadium less than a month later, a performance that was criticised by former Premier League referee Keith Hackett who stated "if you want proof of why no English referee will be represented at this summer’s World Cup finals in Russia, look no further than Martin Atkinson’s performance at the Etihad on Saturday."[15]
Personal life
editAtkinson was born in Drighlington, West Riding of Yorkshire,[a] but is now based near Leeds.
Statistics
edit| Season | Games | Total |
per game |
Total  |
per game
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 9 | 28 | 3.11 | 3 | 0.33 |
| 2003–04 | 26 | 61 | 2.34 | 3 | 0.11 |
| 2004–05 | 38 | 87 | 2.28 | 3 | 0.07 |
| 2005–06 | 38 | 78 | 2.05 | 2 | 0.05 |
| 2006–07 | 42 | 128 | 3.04 | 6 | 0.14 |
| 2007–08 | 42 | 109 | 2.60 | 6 | 0.14 |
| 2008–09 | 40 | 135 | 3.38 | 11 | 0.28 |
| 2009–10 | 48 | 187 | 3.90 | 6 | 0.13 |
| 2010–11 | 41 | 143 | 3.49 | 13 | 0.32 |
| 2011–12 | 40 | 146 | 3.65 | 11 | 0.28 |
| 2012–13 | 36 | 133 | 3.69 | 1 | 0.03 |
| 2013–14 | 39 | 118 | 3.03 | 3 | 0.08 |
| 2014–15 | 48 | 193 | 4.02 | 11 | 0.23 |
| 2015–16 | 46 | 169 | 3.67 | 1 | 0.02 |
| 2016–17 | 43 | 146 | 3.40 | 3 | 0.07 |
| 2017–18 | 33 | 118 | 3.58 | 5 | 0.15 |
| 2018–19 | 34 | 110 | 3.24 | 2 | 0.06 |
| 2019–20 | 36 | 110 | 3.06 | 5 | 0.14 |
| 2020–21 | 30 | 71 | 2.37 | 2 | 0.07 |
| 2021–22 | 28 | 75 | 2.68 | 3 | 0.11 |
| Total | 737 | 2345 | 3.18 | 100 | 0.14 |
Statistics for all competitions. No records are available prior to 2002–03.[16]
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ Profile Archived 15 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine: the Football League official website. Retrieved on 16 April 2008
- ^ Law, Matt (28 April 2022). "Exclusive: Premier League referees Martin Atkinson and Jonathan Moss will retire at end of season". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ Football Conference Archived 16 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine referee, 2002: soccerbase.com website. Retrieved on 16 April 2008
- ^ FA Youth Cup Final 2003: TheFA.com website. Retrieved on 16 April 2008
- ^ Appointment as FIFA referee, 2006: TheFA.com website. Retrieved on 16 April 2008
- ^ "Football". mirror. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ FA Community Shield 2006, Liverpool v. Chelsea: TheFA.com website. Retrieved on 16 April 2008
- ^ FA Trophy Final 2008, Ebbsfleet v. Torquay, referee: TheFA.com website. Retrieved on 16 April 2008.
- ^ "Select Referee Profile - Martin Atkinson | Refworld". Archived from the original on 9 August 2009.
- ^ FIFA World Cup qualifier Archived 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Germany v. Finland, referee: Refworld.com website. Retrieved on 27 November 2009.
- ^ "Euro 2012 Referees" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- ^ Serbia and Albania will be charged by UEFA RTÉ Sports, 15 October 2014.
- ^ "Fifa confirms no British referees will take part at Russia World Cup". The Guardian. 29 March 2018.
- ^ "Atkinson cut Argentina-Italy cards". Football Italia. 24 March 2018.
- ^ Hackett, Keith (8 April 2018). "Ashley Young had to be sent off for horror tackle - the fact he wasn't shows why our referees are not rated". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
- ^ "Martin Atkinson | Latest Football Betting Odds | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
External links
edit
- Refworld.com (archived)
- Martin Atkinson refereeing career statistics at Soccerbase
- Martin Atkinson[usurped] at RateTheRef.net
- Martin Atkinson referee profile at EU-Football.info
- Martin Atkinson referee profile at WorldFootball.net
