Neil Swarbrick is an English

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...

 professional football referee who generally officiates in the Premier League after being promoted to the Select Group of Referees

Select Group Referees

The Select Group is a panel of professional football referees appointed by the Professional Game Match Officials Board to officiate matches in the Premier League, as well as the Football League, FA Cup and Football League Cup...

 in 2011. He is based in Preston, Lancashire.

Career

Swarbrick took up refereeing relatively late, at the age of twenty-nine. Within six years he was promoted to the National List of assistant referee

Assistant referee (association football)

In association football, an assistant referee is one of several officials who assist the referee in controlling a match. Two officials, traditionally known as linesmen , stand on the touchlines, while a fourth official assists administrative or other match related tasks as directed by the referee...

s. He fulfilled this role for four years before being added to the Referees List.

He refereed in the Football Conference

Football Conference

The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...

 until moving into the Football League

The 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...

. He has also officiated FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 and Football League Cup

Football League Cup

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...

 matches. His first Premier League appointment came on 11 December 2010, when he took charge of a goalless draw between Fulham

Fulham F.C.

Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...

 and Sunderland

Sunderland A.F.C.

Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League...

. During his second Premier League appointment on 26 February 2011 Swarbrick issued his first red card in England's top-level division to D. J. Campbell of Blackpool

Blackpool F.C.

Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...

 as they lost 4-0 away to Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...

.

It was announced on 20 June 2011 that Swarbrick had been promoted to the Select Group of Referees and will officiate Premier League matches more regularly thereafter. He joined the Select Group with Jonathan Moss

Jonathan Moss (referee)

Jonathan "Jon" Moss is an English football referee who generally officiates in the Premier League after being promoted to the Select Group of Referees in June 2011...

 and the two will share a PGMO contract for the 2011/12 season.

Season	Games	Total	per game	Total	per game
2005/2006	29	57	1.97	2	0.07
2006/2007	34	96	2.82	9	0.26
2007/2008	38	76	2	8	0.21

External links

• Neil Swarbrick Referee Statistics at Soccerbase.com