‘I was a Premier League referee – but never took eight-week training course’

Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has stunningly revealed he never took the eight-week training course required to become an official.

Halsey refereed 280 English top flight matches from August 1999 to 2013. His talents were recognised by FIFA and he was listed by the world’s governing football body from 2001 to 2006.

The 62-year-old officiated Champions League, UEFA Cup and Euros qualifiers, with his career highlight being the League Cup final between Tottenham and Chelsea in 2008.

And so it may come as a shock to some that Halsey reached the pinnacle of his profession in the public eye without ever actually completing his initial refereeing course.

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Speaking on Under The Cosh, the Hertfordshire man explained how he was originally a semi-pro footballer before one of his friends convinced him to take up refereeing on the side. Halsey claimed he initially had “no f***ing interest in being a referee” but gradually gravitated towards it as he fell out of love with playing.

He recalls telling his friend: “I know you have to do an eight-week course. I’m not doing it. If I could just learn the laws of the game and take the [refereeing] exam, I’ll give it a go.

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“They let me do it, I took the exam and never looked back. I loved every minute of it from start to finish.”

Halsey believes his own playing career helped him bring a sympathetic approach to his officiating. He claimed it allowed him to “always give players a chance,” while also considering himself to be a “player’s referee".

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Halsey eventually decided to stop playing football in order to pursue a full-time refereeing career, gradually making his way up the English pyramid. Yet both his life and career would later be turned upside down after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009.

It forced him to step away from the game and undergo surgery to remove the cancerous tumour in his throat. He made his inspirational return in March 2010, before refereeing Premier League matches until the end of the 2012/13 season.

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