.gif)
Steve Dunn (referee)
Encyclopedia
Stephen W. Dunn is an English
former FA Premier League football
referee. He was born on 24 October 1957, and hails from Gloucestershire
, England
.
fan, who sat in the crowd at the 1971 FA Cup Final
and acted as mascot in a Liverpool-Manchester United game at Anfield
in 1969. He started refereeing local matches in 1978.
He progressed through the Gloucestershire County League
, the Western League
and the Football Conference
to become a linesman in the Football League
in 1986.
His appointment to the Football League list of referees came in 1992, and in the same year he became one of the first of the new FIFA
assistant referees.
Dunn's first ever Premiership match was on 23 August 1995, when Tottenham
lost 1–0 at home to Aston Villa
, the only goal coming from Ugo Ehiogu
.
He reached the FIFA list of referees in 1997. Thus he became the first English official to achieve the "double" of the FIFA referees and FIFA assistants lists, a feat later matched by Steve Bennett
, Graham Barber
and Matt Messias
. He completed six years at this level, stepping down at the age of 45 in 2002, although he continued refereeing as an over-age official in the 'domestic' competitions until 2005.
In 2000, he was the man in the middle at the FA Trophy
Final
between Kingstonian F.C.
and Kettering Town
.
One of his career highlights was the 2001 FA Cup Final
between Arsenal
and Liverpool
, when the 'Gunners' lost 2–1, their goal supplied by Freddie Ljungberg
, but with two late goals coming from Michael Owen
to reverse the scoreline at 90 minutes. He denied Arsenal two clearcut penalties, one a clear handball on the line from Stephane Henchoz.
In his only other FA Cup tie involving Arsenal, in January 1999 when they faced Wolverhampton Wanderers, he had sent off Emmanuel Petit
allegedly for swearing, when in fact Petit was talking, in French
, to teammate Patrick Vieira
- having previously failed to send off Kevin Muscat
of Wolves for punching Dennis Bergkamp
. It later transpired that Petit had said "C'est plus loin que" (It's farther than"), and Dunn dismissed him for using the English word wanker
, despite the rest of the off-the-ball conversation being in French. Understandably he was never popular with Arsenal supporters, especially when his previous affiliations with Liverpool came to light after he retired.
He would go on to referee Football League Cup
semi-finals in 2002 and 2004.
Dunn's final Premier League game was Fulham's
emphatic 6–0 win at home to relegated Norwich City
on 15 May 2005.
He refereed his last professional match on 18 May 2005, when he took charge of West Ham
's 2–0 win against Ipswich Town
in the Championship
play-off semi-final 2nd leg at Portman Road
, both goals coming from Bobby Zamora
. He was appointed to referee for the following season (2005–06
) but made no appearances due to injury.
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 FA Premier League 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. He was born on 24 October 1957, and hails from Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England
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...
.
Career
Steve Dunn was a childhood LiverpoolLiverpool 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...
fan, who sat in the crowd at the 1971 FA Cup Final
1971 FA Cup Final
In the finale to the 1970-71 FA Cup season, the 1971 FA Cup Final was contested by Arsenal and Liverpool at Wembley on the 8 May 1971.Arsenal won 2–1 after extra time, with all three goals coming in the added half hour. Steve Heighway opened the scoring for Liverpool with a low drive past...
and acted as mascot in a Liverpool-Manchester United game at Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
in 1969. He started refereeing local matches in 1978.
He progressed through the Gloucestershire County League
Gloucestershire County League
The Gloucestershire County League is a football league in England, founded in 1968. The league is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA....
, the Western League
Western Football League
The Western Football League is a football league in the south west of England, covering Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, western Dorset, parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and parts of South Wales...
and 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...
to become a linesman in 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...
in 1986.
His appointment to the Football League list of referees came in 1992, and in the same year he became one of the first of the new 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...
assistant referees.
Dunn's first ever Premiership match was on 23 August 1995, when Tottenham
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....
lost 1–0 at home to Aston Villa
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
, the only goal coming from Ugo Ehiogu
Ugo Ehiogu
Ugochuku "Ugo" Ehiogu is an English former footballer who played as a centre back, most recently for Sheffield United...
.
He reached the FIFA list of referees in 1997. Thus he became the first English official to achieve the "double" of the FIFA referees and FIFA assistants lists, a feat later matched by Steve Bennett
Steve Bennett (referee)
Stephen Graham Bennett is a former English football referee who operated in the Premier League, and previously for FIFA as an assistant referee and then referee.-Career:...
, Graham Barber
Graham Barber
Graham P. Barber is an English former football referee. He was based in Tring in Hertfordshire during his career, but now lives in Spain.-Career:...
and Matt Messias
Matt Messias
Matthew David Messias is an English former football referee, who operated in the Football League, the Premier League, and also for UEFA and FIFA. He was first based in York during his time as an official, subsequently moving to Barnsley, also in the county of Yorkshire...
. He completed six years at this level, stepping down at the age of 45 in 2002, although he continued refereeing as an over-age official in the 'domestic' competitions until 2005.
In 2000, he was the man in the middle at 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...
between Kingstonian F.C.
Kingstonian F.C.
Kingstonian Football Club are an English, semi-professional football club that are playing in the Isthmian League Premier Division for the 2011–12 season. The club has played at Kingsmeadow in Kingston upon Thames since 1989, after leaving their traditional Richmond Road ground...
and Kettering Town
Kettering Town F.C.
Kettering Town Football Club are a football club originating in Kettering, Northamptonshire but currently based in the nearby village of Irthlingborough. The club play in the Conference National after winning the Conference North in 2007–08...
.
One of his career highlights was the 2001 FA Cup Final
FA Cup Final 2001
The 2001 FA Cup Final was a football match held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday, 12 May 2001 and was the first final to be played outside of England. The game had an attendance of 72,000. The final was contested between Arsenal and Liverpool, with Liverpool winning 2–1, after...
between Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
and 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...
, when the 'Gunners' lost 2–1, their goal supplied by Freddie Ljungberg
Fredrik Ljungberg
Karl Fredrik "Freddie" Ljungberg is a Swedish footballer who currently plays as a right winger for Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan. Ljungberg was captain of the Swedish national team until he announced his international retirement after UEFA Euro 2008.Ljungberg was a model for Calvin Klein underwear...
, but with two late goals coming from Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United.The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997...
to reverse the scoreline at 90 minutes. He denied Arsenal two clearcut penalties, one a clear handball on the line from Stephane Henchoz.
In his only other FA Cup tie involving Arsenal, in January 1999 when they faced Wolverhampton Wanderers, he had sent off Emmanuel Petit
Emmanuel Petit
Emmanuel "Manu" Laurent Petit is a retired French footballer, who played his club football for Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Chelsea...
allegedly for swearing, when in fact Petit was talking, in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, to teammate Patrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira is a retired French footballer of Senegalese descent who is the Football Development Executive at Manchester City....
- having previously failed to send off Kevin Muscat
Kevin Muscat
Kevin Muscat is an Australian football player who currently plays for Victorian State League Division 1 side Sunshine George Cross and is assistant coach of Melbourne Victory...
of Wolves for punching Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Nicolaas Bergkamp , is a former Dutch professional footballer who is currently the assistant manager to Frank de Boer at Ajax. At club level he played for Ajax, Internazionale, and Arsenal, and also represented the Netherlands at international level...
. It later transpired that Petit had said "C'est plus loin que" (It's farther than"), and Dunn dismissed him for using the English word wanker
Wanker
Wanker is a pejorative term of English origin, common in Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth countries, including Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It initially referred to an onanist but has since become a general insult. It is synonymous with tosser.-Meaning:The term wanker...
, despite the rest of the off-the-ball conversation being in French. Understandably he was never popular with Arsenal supporters, especially when his previous affiliations with Liverpool came to light after he retired.
He would go on to referee 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-finals in 2002 and 2004.
Dunn's final Premier League game was Fulham's
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...
emphatic 6–0 win at home to relegated Norwich City
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
on 15 May 2005.
He refereed his last professional match on 18 May 2005, when he took charge of West Ham
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
's 2–0 win against 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....
in the Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
play-off semi-final 2nd leg 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...
, both goals coming from Bobby Zamora
Bobby Zamora
Robert Lester "Bobby" Zamora is an English footballer who plays for Fulham and the England national football team. Zamora began his career at Football League club Bristol Rovers, but was soon signed by Brighton & Hove Albion, where he found first team success...
. He was appointed to referee for the following season (2005–06
2005-06 in English football
The 2005–06 season was the 126th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:*The rebuilt Wembley Stadium was due to open in time for the FA Cup final in May. However, in August 2005, The Football Association reserved the Millennium Stadium as a backup, as there was some doubt whether...
) but made no appearances due to injury.
External links
- Steve Dunn Referee Statistics at soccerbase.com