Stephen Lodge (referee)
Encyclopedia
Stephen John Lodge 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...

 former football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 referee, who retired from top-flight officiating at the end of the 2000-2001
2000-01 in English football
The 2000–01 season was the 121st season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Manchester United secured their 3rd Premiership title in succession and their 7th title in just nine seasons...

 season. He lives in Barnsley
Barnsley
Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...

, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, has a wife and one son, and works as a local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...

 officer.

Career

He took up the whistle at the age of 19 years, in the Barnsley & District Football League. He was included in the FA Premier League list of referees from its inception in 1992. His first appointment in this competition was the game between Middlesbrough and Manchester City on 19 August 1992 at Ayresome Park
Ayresome Park
-External links:**-References:...

 - a 2-0 home win with goals from Bernie Slaven
Bernie Slaven
Bernard Joseph "Bernie" Slaven is a Scottish-born former Republic of Ireland international footballer. A striker, with 162 goals in 423 league games, in a 12 year career, he also earned seven caps for the Republic of Ireland....

.

Although never to be appointed to a FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

 competition or UEFA European Championships
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...

, he did take charge of Germany's
Germany national football team
The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....

 pre-tournament friendly match against Canada
Canada men's national soccer team
The Canada men's national soccer team represents Canada in international soccer competitions at the senior men's level. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association and compete in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football .Their most significant...

 in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 on 8 June 1994, prior to the World Cup
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...

 of that year.

1996 was a busy year for Lodge. In that year he took charge of an 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...

 semi-final, a 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...

 semi-final, and the FA Vase
FA Vase
The Football Association Challenge Vase is an annual football competition for teams playing below Step 4 of the English National League System...

 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...

 of that year, in which Brigg Town
Brigg Town F.C.
Brigg Town Football Club, formed in 1864, are a football team from Brigg, North Lincolnshire. They are the oldest football team in the county and one of the oldest in the world...

 beat Clitheroe
Clitheroe F.C.
Clitheroe F.C. are an English football club based in Clitheroe, Lancashire, playing in the Northern Premier League Division One North. They were established in 1877 as Clitheroe Central...

 3-0.

He refereed the 1997 FA Cup Final
FA Cup Final 1997
The 1997 FA Cup Final took place on 17 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium and was won by Chelsea with a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough.Chelsea were attempting to win their first FA Cup final for 27 years, while Middlesbrough were contesting their first ever final...

 when Chelsea defeated Middlesbrough 2-0, the goals coming from Roberto Di Matteo
Roberto Di Matteo
Roberto Di Matteo is a Swiss-born Italian former professional footballer and the current assistant manager of Chelsea. As a midfielder, he enjoyed spells at Schaffhausen, Zürich Aarau, Lazio, and Chelsea. He was capped by Italy 34 times, scoring two goals for the Italian national team, and played...

 and Eddie Newton
Eddie Newton
Edward John Ikem 'Eddie' Newton is a former English footballer who played most notably for Chelsea as a defensive midfielder...

.

In 1998 he was appointed to referee another FA Cup semi-final
FA Cup Semi-finals
The FA Cup Semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world.- Location :...

, this time between Arsenal and Wolves, which the 'Gunners' won with a Christopher Wreh
Christopher Wreh
Christopher Wreh is a Liberia international footballer.-Career:A cousin of former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah, Wreh first played for Liberian clubs Young Kotoko, La Modelle International and Invincible Eleven, before being snapped up by French side AS Monaco as a youth in 1989...

 goal, on their way to winning a second "double".

Since the year 2000, 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....

.

On 7 May 2001, he stepped out for his last ever National List appointment, the game at Portman Road
Portman Road
Portman Road is an association football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted a number of England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly international match, against Croatia in 2003...

 where Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....

 defeated Manchester City by 2 goals to 1. Matthew Holland and Martijn Reuser
Martijn Reuser
Martijn Franciscus Reuser is a former Dutch footballer who last played for NAC Breda in the Eredivisie.Reuser began his career at Dutch side Ajax, and having joined the side at youth level, made the step up to play in the first team. He was a skillful, goalscoring midfielder who looked capable of...

 scored for Ipswich
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....

, Shaun Goater
Shaun Goater
Leonard Shaun Goater MBE is a Bermudian footballer who played as a striker for a number of English clubs in the 1990s and 2000s...

 replied for City.

In 2002, he was invited by the then manager of Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...

, David O'Leary
David O'Leary
David Anthony O'Leary is an Irish football manager and former player. His managerial career began at Leeds United and later he managed Aston Villa. He most recently worked as the manager of Al-Ahli Dubai...

, to counsel their players for a period of time regarding reaction to official decisions on the field of play and their incidences of past misconduct. He also became a UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....

 Referees Observers Panel member in the same year, for a two year period.

He is an FA Premier League referees' assessor
Assessor
An assessor may be:* Assessor , the assistant to a judge or magistrate* Assessor , a senior officer of the University of Oxford* Assessor , an expert who calculates the value of property...

.

External links

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