William Collum (referee)
Encyclopedia
William "Willie" Collum (born 18 January 1979) is a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 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.

Career

Collum has refereed international matches, the 2008 Under-19 European Championship final and in the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...

. He is also a regular referee of Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...

 matches. Collum officiated his first Scottish Football League
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League is a league of football teams in Scotland, comprising theScottish First Division, Scottish Second Division and Scottish Third Division. From the league's foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League was formed in 1998, the Scottish Football League...

 match in November 2004, and his first SPL match in April 2006. He took charge of his first UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 match in September 2010, overseeing Copenhagen's 2-0 win away at Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos is a multi-sport club based in Athens, Greece. It has the shamrock as its official emblem and green and white as its colours...

, and has also officiated several high profile international matches and UEFA Europa League matches.

On October 24, 2010 Collum refereed his first Old Firm
Old Firm
The Old Firm is a common collective name for the association football clubs Celtic and Rangers, both based in Glasgow, Scotland.The origin of the term is unclear. One theory has it that the expression derives from Celtic's first game in 1888, which was played against Rangers. However, author,...

 match at Celtic Park
Celtic Park
Celtic Park is a football stadium in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which is the home ground of Celtic FC. Celtic Park, an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 60,832, is the largest football stadium in Scotland and the sixth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom, after Murrayfield, Old Trafford,...

. Following the match some of Collum's decisions during the game came under scrutiny from Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...

, and he received death-threats against him and his family which were described as having a 'sectarian undertone'.

Teaching career

Collum was the principal teacher of the Religious Education
Religious Education
Religious Education is the term given to education concerned with religion. It may refer to education provided by a church or religious organization, for instruction in doctrine and faith, or for education in various aspects of religion, but without explicitly religious or moral aims, e.g. in a...

 department at Cardinal Newman High School, Bellshill, however he stood down as principle in August 2011 to concentrate more on his refereeing. He still remains a teacher at the school.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK