Uriah Rennie Explained

Uriah Rennie
Birth Date:23 October 1959
Birth Place:Sheffield, England
Years1:–1994
League1:Northern Premier League
Role1:Referee
Years2:1994–1997
League2:Football League
Role2:Referee
Years3:1997–2008
League3:Premier League
Role3:Referee
Internationalyears1:2000–2004
Confederation1:FIFA listed
Internationalrole1:Referee

Uriah Rennie (born 23 October 1959[1]) is an English retired football referee.

He was the first black referee to officiate in games of the Premier League.[2]

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.[3] Rennie became a FIFA referee in 2000,[4] 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."[5] 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.[6] In September 2010, Rennie became president of Hallam FC which was celebrating its 150th anniversary season.

Life outside football

Rennie was born in Sheffield, where he still lives. 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.[7] He is married and has one daughter and a son.[5] He appeared as himself in the BBC Two drama Marvellous, broadcast in September 2014.[8]

In August 2015, he became the referee in the ITV game show, Freeze Out, presented by Mark Durden-Smith.[9]

In November 2023, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at Sheffield Hallam University for his work in the community of Sheffield, namely Sheffield Federation for School Sports and Weston Park Hospital.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Referee Profiles . https://web.archive.org/web/20080417072957/http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0%2C%2C10794~628215%2C00.html . 17 April 2008 . . 28 December 2023.
  2. News: Elite football in England has 40 referees – all white. Why don’t black officials get top jobs? . Jon Ungoed-Thomas . 20 November 2021. The Guardian . 28 December 2022.
  3. http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=244580 First ever Premiership match
  4. http://www.premierleague.com/fapl.rac?command=setSelectedId&nextPage=enRefereesProfile&id=2931&type=com.fapl.website.stories.SimpleStories&categoryCode=Referees Career
  5. News: Uriah Rennie's Red Card Blues. AYUP. 20 January 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070124235711/http://www.ayup.co.uk/ref/ref1-11.html. 24 January 2007. dead.
  6. Web site: Argyle Get Top Ref for Saints Game. 15 January 2008.
  7. News: 26 July 2004 . Come on ref. . 20 January 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061020091808/http://www.givemefootball.com/display.cfm?article=4758&type=1 . 20 October 2006.
  8. BBC: Marvellous
  9. News: . August 10, 2015 . On thin ice: is Freeze Out the most ludicrous game show ever? . . London . June 25, 2024.