Christmas 06 - Ref Assessor
By The Ref Assessor
December 22 2006
The Ref Assessor previews all the games over the busy Festive season. The Clarets face Derby, Barnsley, Hull and Stoke but have the Football League been kind with their referee appointments?
The visit of Derby this weekend sees the experienced referee Mike Pike heading to Turf Moor. Pike is an official who when he has refereed Burnley matches before has done a good job. He is a referee who will actually let the players get on with the game.
His last match officiating the Clarets was early last season when he refereed our 3-0 win over Ipswich when he had a steady game despite not awarding us a penalty for a pull on Akinbiyi. In 2004/05 Pike also refereed our 2-0 defeat against Ipswich as well as our 3-1 victory over Watford.
His card count is very low and so far this season is averaging two yellow cards a game having officiated 16 games. He has yet to use his red card this year.
Pike will be assisted by Mr. Mick McDonough Mr. Brian Parry. The 4th official is Mr. Jock Waugh.
Our match against Barnsley on Boxing Day will be officiated by Iain Williamson, to be honest it is not an appointment that pleases me. Williamson last took charge of the Clarets against Sunderland in a match which will be remembered for the sending-off of Ade Akinbiyi. However had Williamson spotted the blatant penalty that should have been given before hand the sending-off would not have happened. He also missed another obvious foul on Gary Cahill which led to Sunderland's second goal. Williamson is a very pedantic official with things such as positions of throw-ins and he is not an official I like to see appointed to Burnley games.
Before that he had officiated Burnley twice at Leicester and West Ham, both matches ended in draws. In the match against Leicester he cautioned Duff and Sinclair and sent-off Jordan Stewart. Against West Ham he issued five yellow cards, two of which went to Burnley.
So far this season Williamson has issued 69 yellow cards from his 17 games. He also has issued 3 red cards.
Williamson will be assisted by Mr. Carl Bassindale and Mr. Dave Naylor. The 4th official will be Mr. Paul Thompson
Burnley then faces another away trip after Barnsley with a visit to Hull, and a referee who will need no introduction to Burnley fans, Mr. Graham Laws.
Last season he twice took charge of the Clarets. The latter of the two was our trip to Sheffield Wednesday. On that occasion he had a good game, however that could not be said for when he took charge of our match at home to Derby County. It was a match in which he sent of Wayne Thomas for what he thought was an elbow on the diving Rasiak. In that match as well he sent Phil Brown to the stands for his pathetic antics on the touchline. He will also be remembered for his performance at Deepdale last season when he gave Preston a penalty despite any possible offence taking not just outside the penalty but off the field of play.
Last season his only visit to Turf Moor was thankfully brief, as he was the referee who called of the Leicester City Match due to the pitch becoming rapidly waterlogged. In 2003/04 season he made two trips to Turf Moor, one was for the visit of Crewe which we won 1-0 and the other was for the visit of Gillingham in the FA Cup. On that occasion he allowed Gillingham to kick us all around the park in the first half and then sent Stan Ternent to the stand as he told Mr. Laws what he had though of his performance so far. This season he has been out for a large part of the season with injury, having taken charge of just one match between late October and early March, this was the reason why he did not referee the Crewe match at home he was scheduled to referee. While he is currently averaging around 3 cautions a game.
Mr. Laws was the referee for the Division Two Play-off final between Stoke and Brentford in 2002. While in 2001 he was the 4th official for the Division Two Play-off final and the FA Vase.
Laws will be assisted by Mr. Glyn Mellor and Mr. Garry Wallace. The 4th official will be Mr. Christopher Reeves.
We end our Christmas period with a home tie against Stoke, in which will be our first match of 2007. The referee for this will be Russell Booth, the referee who officiated our last game of the 2005/06 season. This is Booth’s third season of the football league list and the second time he has officiated the Clarets. His first one against Luton was a match which was a quiet affair as he produced just the two yellow cards to Barnett and Brkovic.
Mr. Booth was 4th official in the FA Youth Cup in 2003 and also in the Pontin's cup final in 2004. This will be the first time he has taken charge of a Burnley match.
Booth will be assisted by Mr. Russell Green and Mr. Paul Varley. The 4th official will be Mr. John Hay
Also if neither Pike, Laws nor Williamson awards a penalty to the Clarets then it will be a whole calendar year since our last penalty award, maybe Mr. Booth could start with an early award of a penalty in 2007.