Uriah Rennie

Uriah Rennie (born 23 October 1959[1] in Sheffield, England) is a retired top level English football referee.

Uriah Rennie

Born	23 October 1959 Sheffield, England
Other occupation	Magistrate
Domestic
Years	League	Role
? -1994	Northern Premier League	Referee
1994–1997	Football League	Referee
1997–2009	Premier League	Referee
International
Years	League	Role
2000–2004	FIFA listed	Referee

He was one of the first black referees to officiate games in the Football League.

Career

Rennie began refereeing in 1979 in local leagues, then operated in the Northern Premier League until 1994, at which time he was appointed to the Football League List of referees. He was given his first Premiership appointment on 23 August 1997, a game between Leeds United and Crystal Palace at Elland Road.[2] Rennie became a FIFA referee in 2000,[3] and joined the Select Group of professional referees the following year. Keith Hackett, head of the Professional Game Match Officials Board has described him as "the fittest referee we have ever seen on the national and world scene."[4] At the end of 2004, he retired from the FIFA list, after reaching the compulsory age of 45 but made a return to active refereeing in November 2007.[5] In September 2010, Rennie became president of Hallam FC which was celebrating its 150th anniversary season.

Career statistics

Season	Games	Total	per game	Total	per game
1997/1998	27	102	3.78	10	0.37
1998/1999	27	117	4.34	7	0.26
1999/2000	28	96	3.43	10	0.36
2000/2001	39	82	2.10	8	0.21
2001/2002	34	86	2.52	5	0.15
2002/2003	31	82	2.65	10	0.32
2003/2004	24	79	3.29	1	0.04
2004/2005	31	64	2.06	2	0.06
2005/2006	44	94	2.14	5	0.11
2006/2007	39	123	3.15	5	0.13
2007/2008	21	59	2.80	7	0.33

(There are no available records prior to 1997/1998)

Life outside football

He practises both kick-boxing and aikido, and has a Master's degree in business administration and law. He is also a magistrate in Sheffield.[6] He is married and has one daughter.[4] He appeared as himself in the BBC Two drama Marvellous, broadcast in September 2014.[7]

In August 2015, he became the referee in the ITV game show, Freeze Out, presented by Mark Durden-Smith.

References

1. Birthdate confirmation Archived 17 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine: the Football League Official website. Retrieved on 10 March 2007.
2. First ever Premiership match, soccerbase.com website. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
3. Career, details: Premier League Official website. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
4. "Uriah Rennie's Red Card Blues". AYUP. Archived from the original on 24 January 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2007.
5. https://plymouth.vitalfootball.co.uk/argyle-get-top-ref-for-saints-game/
6. "Come on ref". PFA. 26 July 2004. Archived from the original on 20 October 2006. Retrieved 20 January 2007.
7. BBC: Marvellous

External links

• Uriah Rennie Referee Statistics at soccerbase.com