Dermot Gallagher
Encyclopedia
Dermot J. Gallagher is a retired English
-based association football referee, who lives in Banbury
, Oxfordshire
. He refereed in the Premier League of English football until May 2007.
linesman called Dick Bartlett. He was elected to the assistant referees' list of the Football League in 1985. Five years later he became a Football League referee at the age of only thirty-three. Even by his second season he was regularly handling top division games and was chosen for the new Premier League in 1992. He progressed to the FIFA
list in 1994 after only three and a half seasons on the List.
His first ever Premiership appointment was the 2–0 away win by Coventry
at Spurs
on August 19, 1992, both goals being scored by John Williams
.
In 1995, he refereed the FA Charity Shield match between Everton
and Blackburn Rovers
at Wembley, which the 'Toffees' won with a Vinny Samways
goal. In the same year, he was man-in-the-middle for the FA Trophy
Final
, also at Wembley, when Woking
beat Kidderminster Harriers
2–1 after extra time. And to finish a busy year he was put in charge of the Under 20 World Cup Final in Qatar
, which was won by Argentina
in a 2–0 win over Brazil
.
In 1996 he was selected to control the FA Cup Final
between Liverpool
and Manchester United
at Wembley, which United won by an Eric Cantona
goal to nil. That summer he refereed in the European Championships in England. However he suffered a serious injury during a game and was then out of action until early 1997.
Despite being born in the Republic of Ireland, Gallagher was a representative of the (English) Football Association
, and as such he was able to referee a friendly international between his birth country, the Republic of Ireland
, and Russia
on February 13, 2002, at Lansdowne Road
. Referees are prohibited from officiating in international fixtures involving their representative country. He retired from the FIFA List on reaching the mandatory retirement age of forty-five at the end of that year.
Gallagher served out several more years as a Premier League referee with the unique distinction of having served on it every season since its inception. He was the first referee since 1994 to be granted an extension beyond the domestic retirement age of forty-eight in 2006.
Since the year 2006, he has officiated in the annual series of national six-a-side tournaments called Masters Football
, referees for which are FA
endorsed. This competition features ex-professional footballers chosen by the PFA, and is televised on Sky TV
.
The last Premier League fixture that he refereed was the game between Liverpool and Charlton Athletic
, which took place on May 13, 2007 and finished 2–2.
He officiated a pre-season friendly for Cardiff City
vs Swindon Town FC on July 28, 2008
In 2007, he refereed every game during the Sky TV charity seven-a-side football competition Premier League All Stars
, which took place from September 23 to September 30, 2007, televised live on Sky One
.
Throughout 2008, Gallagher was appointed as the official referee for The England Legends ITV
., in their matches against Scotland (At St. Mary's, Southampton), Germany (at Bramall Lane
, Sheffield
) and Ireland at Fulham's Craven Cottage
on Thursday October 9.
In May 2008, he joined ITV1
's Beat The Star
as a competition referee.
He has appeared as a guest pundit on several editions of Sky Sports' Super Sunday programme, appearing on The Last Word supplement. Mostly being used to discuss and pass judgement on refereeing decisions during the game.
Print
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-based association football referee, who lives in Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. He refereed in the Premier League of English football until May 2007.
Career
Gallagher first took up the whistle in 1978 at the suggestion of an ex-Football LeagueThe Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
linesman called Dick Bartlett. He was elected to the assistant referees' list of the Football League in 1985. Five years later he became a Football League referee at the age of only thirty-three. Even by his second season he was regularly handling top division games and was chosen for the new Premier League in 1992. He progressed to the FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
list in 1994 after only three and a half seasons on the List.
His first ever Premiership appointment was the 2–0 away win by Coventry
Coventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...
at Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
on August 19, 1992, both goals being scored by John Williams
John Williams (footballer born 1968)
John Nelson Williams is an English former professional footballer, He is typical Journeyman centre forward.- Career :...
.
In 1995, he refereed the FA Charity Shield match between Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
and Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
at Wembley, which the 'Toffees' won with a Vinny Samways
Vinny Samways
Vincent "Vinny" Samways is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder.Samways was born in Bethnal Green, London, and began his football career in Tottenham Hotspur's youth system. He won the FA Cup with Tottenham in 1991, and helped them reach the semi-finals of...
goal. In the same year, he was man-in-the-middle for the FA Trophy
FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams...
Final
Final (competition)
The final of a competition is the match or round in which the winner of the entire event is decided.In sports competitions following a knockout system, where only two individuals or teams compete in each match, the final is usually played between the winners of two semi-finals...
, also at Wembley, when Woking
Woking F.C.
Woking Football Club is a football club from in Woking, Surrey, England, formed in 1889. They are playing in the Conference South in the 2011–12 season. For the 2011/2012 season, Woking are sharing their ground with Conference National club Hayes & Yeading United.-Promotion to the...
beat Kidderminster Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers F.C.
Kidderminster Harriers F.C. are an English football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire formed in 1886 They currently play in the Conference National and have played at Aggborough Stadium since they were formed...
2–1 after extra time. And to finish a busy year he was put in charge of the Under 20 World Cup Final in Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, which was won by Argentina
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
in a 2–0 win over Brazil
Brazil national football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the...
.
In 1996 he was selected to control the FA Cup Final
1996 FA Cup Final
The 1996 FA Cup Final was the 51st to be held at Wembley Stadium after the Second World War and was held between two of the biggest rivals in English football, Manchester United and Liverpool.- Build-up :...
between Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
and Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
at Wembley, which United won by an Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona
Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona is a French actor and former French international footballer. He played for Auxerre, Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nîmes and Leeds United before ending his professional footballing career at Manchester United, where he won four Premier League titles in...
goal to nil. That summer he refereed in the European Championships in England. However he suffered a serious injury during a game and was then out of action until early 1997.
Despite being born in the Republic of Ireland, Gallagher was a representative of the (English) Football Association
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
, and as such he was able to referee a friendly international between his birth country, the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
, and Russia
Russia national football team
The Russia national football team represents Russia in association football and is controlled by the Russian Football Union , the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home grounds are Luzhniki Stadium, Lokomotiv Stadium , and Petrovsky Stadium in St.Petersburg and their head coach is...
on February 13, 2002, at Lansdowne Road
Lansdowne Road
Lansdowne Road was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union that has been the location of a number of sports stadiums. It was used primarily for rugby union and for association football matches as well as some music concerts...
. Referees are prohibited from officiating in international fixtures involving their representative country. He retired from the FIFA List on reaching the mandatory retirement age of forty-five at the end of that year.
Gallagher served out several more years as a Premier League referee with the unique distinction of having served on it every season since its inception. He was the first referee since 1994 to be granted an extension beyond the domestic retirement age of forty-eight in 2006.
Since the year 2006, he has officiated in the annual series of national six-a-side tournaments called Masters Football
Masters football
Masters football is a 6 a-side indoor football competition in the United Kingdom, where players over the age of 35 are chosen by the Masters Football Selection Committee to represent a senior club which they played for. Regional heats are held, and the winners of each go forward to a national...
, referees for which are FA
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
endorsed. This competition features ex-professional footballers chosen by the PFA, and is televised on Sky TV
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
.
The last Premier League fixture that he refereed was the game between Liverpool and Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
, which took place on May 13, 2007 and finished 2–2.
He officiated a pre-season friendly for Cardiff City
Cardiff city
Cardiff City may refer to:* Cardiff city centre* Cardiff City Council* Cardiff City F.C.* Cardiff City L.F.C.* Cardiff City Stadium...
vs Swindon Town FC on July 28, 2008
After football
19 May 2007, St Albans Romans FC Vs Doncaster EC FC at Nene Park, Rushden & Diamonds FC.In 2007, he refereed every game during the Sky TV charity seven-a-side football competition Premier League All Stars
Premier League All Stars
Premier League All Stars was a televised charity football tournament, which was broadcast live on Sky1 on consecutive nights between 23 September and 30 September 2007. The innovative format features football teams representing all 20 Premier League clubs, each playing to win a share of the...
, which took place from September 23 to September 30, 2007, televised live on Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
.
Throughout 2008, Gallagher was appointed as the official referee for The England Legends ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
., in their matches against Scotland (At St. Mary's, Southampton), Germany (at Bramall Lane
Bramall Lane
-Cricket at the Lane:Bramall Lane opened as a cricket ground in 1855, having been leased by Michael Ellison from the Duke of Norfolk at an annual rent of £70. The site was then away from the town's industrial area, and relatively free from smoke. It was built to host the matches of local cricket...
, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
) and Ireland at Fulham's Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage is the name of a football stadium in the Hammersmith and Fulham area that has been the home ground of the association football team Fulham F.C. since 1896....
on Thursday October 9.
In May 2008, he joined ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
's Beat The Star
Beat the Star
Beat the Star is a British game show airing on television network ITV. It is the British version of the Schlag den Raab franchise, based on the German game show Schlag den Raab...
as a competition referee.
He has appeared as a guest pundit on several editions of Sky Sports' Super Sunday programme, appearing on The Last Word supplement. Mostly being used to discuss and pass judgement on refereeing decisions during the game.
Statistics
| Season | Games | Total | per game | Total | per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992/1993 | 7 | 9 | 1.28 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 1995/1996 | 21 | 40 | 1.90 | 2 | 0.09 |
| 1997/1998 | 29 | 71 | 2.44 | 2 | 0.06 |
| 1998/1999 | 33 | 98 | 2.96 | 5 | 0.15 |
| 1999/2000 | 35 | 89 | 2.54 | 6 | 0.17 |
| 2000/2001 | 39 | 100 | 2.56 | 8 | 0.20 |
| 2001/2002 | 34 | 88 | 2.58 | 4 | 0.11 |
| 2002/2003 | 35 | 107 | 3.05 | 5 | 0.14 |
| 2003/2004 | 34 | 77 | 2.26 | 6 | 0.17 |
| 2004/2005 | 36 | 80 | 2.22 | 5 | 0.13 |
| 2005/2006 | 43 | 96 | 2.23 | 9 | 0.20 |
| 2006/2007 | 32 | 61 | 1.90 | 5 | 0.15 |
- Football League Handbooks, 1985–1989
- Rothmans / Sky Sports Football Yearbooks, 1990–2006
External links
- Dermot Gallagher Referee Statistics at soccerbase.com
- 7 questions with Dermot Gallagher