Keith Hackett
Encyclopedia
Keith Stuart Hackett is an English
former football
referee, who began refereeing in local leagues in the Sheffield
, Yorkshire
, area in 1960. He is counted amongst the top 100 referees of all time in a list maintained by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
and became a Football League
linesman in 1972. Three years later he advanced to the Supplementary List of referees and one year later in 1976 to the full List at the age of only thirty two. He made progress and in 1979 was senior linesman to Ron Challis
in the FA Cup Final. The next season he took charge of an FA Cup
semi-final between Arsenal
and Liverpool
. The match required a replay, which he also handled, but that ended all-square as well, and two further replays were required to separate the teams.
The following season saw him step up to the ultimate domestic honour of the 1981 FA Cup Final
at Wembley, finishing 1-1 between Spurs
and Manchester City
. Aged only thirty six at the time, he was one of the youngest Cup Final referees. Tommy Hutchison
of City scored both goals, causing the game to go to a replay, which Hackett also refereed at Wembley, the game ending 3-2 to Tottenham. He was then appointed to the FIFA
List for the following season of 1981-82
.
He was then appointed to the 1984 Charity Shield match, in which Everton
defeated Liverpool
1-0, courtesy of a Bruce Grobbelaar
own goal. In 1986, he refereed the League Cup
Final, where Oxford United
beat QPR
3-0, thus winning their only knockout trophy.
Internationally, he was a match official at the 1988 European Championships
, in which he took control of West Germany's 1-1 draw with Italy
in Group A on 10 June at the Rheinstadion
.
Hackett also officiated at the 1988 Olympic Football Tournament, handling the semi-final between Brazil
and West Germany, which Brazil won on penalties
following a 1-1 scoreline after extra time.
He also refereed the 1991 FA Cup Semi-Final between West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, controversially sending off Tony Gale of West Ham for an innocuous tackle in the first half. The match ended 4-0 to Forest and Hackett never refereed a match involving West Ham again.
He continued to be one of the senior English referees, even after his retirement on age grounds from the FIFA List at the end of 1991. Although he reached the English retirement age at the end of the 1991-92
season, he was granted an extension and was one of the first set of Premier League referees for its inaugural 1992-93
campaign. He was granted another extra season on top of this before retiring just short of his fiftieth birthday in 1994.
of the Professional Game Match Officials Board
, replacing Philip Don
.
Hackett has also worked to promote knowledge of refereeing via several publications. He published his own book, Hackett's Law; a Referee's Notebook! in 1986. And he continued to provide the answers for cult classic cartoon quiz You Are The Ref
, drawn by sports artist Paul Trevillion
, which he has done since the 1970s - originally for Shoot magazine, and then for The Observer
newspaper. He co-authored a book with Trevillion celebrating 50 years of the strip in December 2006. And from August 2008, The Observer
's collection of You Are The Ref strips appeared online at guardian.co.uk.
In early 2007, Hackett also produced a DVD-ROM with Trevillion called Referee Academy, for use in the training of match officials, with sanction from the FA
, the Football League
and the Premier League. During the 2007-08 season
, he also wrote a regular column in the matchday programme for Crystal Palace
.
Manager Alex Ferguson
over the standards of referees in the English game after his team were knocked out of the FA Cup
by Portsmouth
on 8 March 2008, blaming a series of allegedly bad decisions by match referee Martin Atkinson
. Speaking immediately after the game, Ferguson pointed the finger at both Atkinson and Hackett: "Hackett has got a lot to answer for in this country," said the Scot. "He's not doing his job properly. He should be assessed like everyone else is assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, the players are assessed, referees are assessed. Martin Atkinson will referee next week, no problem, but his performance today should not be accepted in our game. Alex Ferguson was later charged by the FA for improper conduct.
Print
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 began refereeing in local leagues in the Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, 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...
, area in 1960. He is counted amongst the top 100 referees of all time in a list maintained by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
Career
He reached the Northern Premier LeagueNorthern Premier League
The Northern Premier League, is one of the regional English football leagues which sits directly below the Football Conference featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs. Geographically, the league covers all of Northern England, and the northern areas of the Midlands. Originally just one...
and became a 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...
linesman in 1972. Three years later he advanced to the Supplementary List of referees and one year later in 1976 to the full List at the age of only thirty two. He made progress and in 1979 was senior linesman to Ron Challis
Ron Challis
Ronald Challis was an English football referee in the Football League. During his time on the List he was based in Tonbridge, Kent.-Career:...
in the FA Cup Final. The next season 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 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...
. The match required a replay, which he also handled, but that ended all-square as well, and two further replays were required to separate the teams.
The following season saw him step up to the ultimate domestic honour of the 1981 FA Cup Final
1981 FA Cup Final
The 1981 FA Cup Final was contested by Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at Wembley. The match finished 1–1 after extra time; Tommy Hutchison opened the scoring for City, and then scored an own-goal eleven minutes from time to bring Spurs level. In the replay, Spurs won 3–2, with...
at Wembley, finishing 1-1 between Spurs
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....
and Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
. Aged only thirty six at the time, he was one of the youngest Cup Final referees. Tommy Hutchison
Tommy Hutchison
Thomas "Tommy" Hutchison is a Scottish former footballer.-Club career:Beginning his professional career with Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Second Division, being spotted by Archie McPherson...
of City scored both goals, causing the game to go to a replay, which Hackett also refereed at Wembley, the game ending 3-2 to Tottenham. He was then appointed to the 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...
List for the following season of 1981-82
1981-82 in English football
The 1981–82 season was the 102nd season of competitive football in England.It was also the first season that the Three points for a win system was introduced.- First Division :Three points for a win was introduced for the first time in England...
.
He was then appointed to the 1984 Charity Shield match, in which Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
defeated 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...
1-0, courtesy of a Bruce Grobbelaar
Bruce Grobbelaar
Bruce David Grobbelaar is a former football goalkeeper and manager.He played for a number of clubs in a career which spanned for more than 20 years at professional level, most notably Liverpool during their dominant period in the 1980s and early 1990s.-Early years:In his teenage years, Grobbelaar...
own goal. In 1986, he refereed the 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...
Final, where Oxford United
Oxford United F.C.
Oxford United Football Club is an English association football club based in Oxford, Oxfordshire. The club play in League Two, following promotion from the Conference National in May 2010. The club had been a non-League side since their relegation from the Football League in the 2005–06 season. The...
beat QPR
Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
3-0, thus winning their only knockout trophy.
Internationally, he was a match official at the 1988 European Championships
1988 UEFA European Football Championship
The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany. West Germany won the right to host the tournament with five votes ahead of a joint bid from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, who gained 1 vote, and a bid from England. It was the eighth European Football...
, in which he took control of West Germany's 1-1 draw with Italy
Italy national football team
The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...
in Group A on 10 June at the Rheinstadion
Rheinstadion
The Rheinstadion was a multi-purpose stadium, in Düsseldorf, Germany. The stadium was built, near the Rhine, in 1926 and held 55,900 people, at the end of its life....
.
Hackett also officiated at the 1988 Olympic Football Tournament, handling the semi-final between Brazil
Brazil national football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the...
and West Germany, which Brazil won on penalties
Penalty shootout (football)
A penalty shoot-out, referred to as kicks from the penalty mark in the Laws of the Game, is the FIFA official term for a method used in association football to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament following a tied game...
following a 1-1 scoreline after extra time.
He also refereed the 1991 FA Cup Semi-Final between West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, controversially sending off Tony Gale of West Ham for an innocuous tackle in the first half. The match ended 4-0 to Forest and Hackett never refereed a match involving West Ham again.
He continued to be one of the senior English referees, even after his retirement on age grounds from the FIFA List at the end of 1991. Although he reached the English retirement age at the end of the 1991-92
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...
season, he was granted an extension and was one of the first set of Premier League referees for its inaugural 1992-93
1992-93 in English football
The 1992–1993 season was the 113th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions....
campaign. He was granted another extra season on top of this before retiring just short of his fiftieth birthday in 1994.
In retirement
He later worked as a referees' assessor before, on 1 March 2004, he was appointed general managerGeneral manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of the Professional Game Match Officials Board
Professional Game Match Officials Board
The Professional Game Match Officials Board , and since made a Limited Liability Company , was formed when English association football referees turned professional in 2001, specifically to provide match officials for all games played in the Premier League in England...
, replacing Philip Don
Philip Don
Philip Don is a former football referee and school headteacher from England. Don was originally from Sheffield but his teaching career took him south to Middlesex...
.
Hackett has also worked to promote knowledge of refereeing via several publications. He published his own book, Hackett's Law; a Referee's Notebook! in 1986. And he continued to provide the answers for cult classic cartoon quiz You Are The Ref
You Are The Ref
You Are The Ref is a British comic strip featuring a series of awkward football refereeing challenges, which has run in various publications since 1957...
, drawn by sports artist Paul Trevillion
Paul Trevillion
Paul Trevillion is a highly acclaimed British comic/sports artist, whose career spans fifty years.Born in Tottenham , Trevillion, while still at school, produced artwork for publications like Eagle , TV21 and Roy of the Rovers...
, which he has done since the 1970s - originally for Shoot magazine, and then for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
newspaper. He co-authored a book with Trevillion celebrating 50 years of the strip in December 2006. And from August 2008, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
's collection of You Are The Ref strips appeared online at guardian.co.uk.
In early 2007, Hackett also produced a DVD-ROM with Trevillion called Referee Academy, for use in the training of match officials, with sanction from the 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...
, 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...
and the Premier League. During the 2007-08 season
2007-08 in English football
The 2007–08 season was the 128th season of competitive football in England.-European competitions:In October 2007 Arsenal equalled the UEFA Champions League record victory with a 7–0 win over Slavia Prague at the Emirates Stadium. The record was broken the following month when Liverpool...
, he also wrote a regular column in the matchday programme for Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
.
Manchester United v. Portsmouth; FA Cup quarter-final 2008
Hackett was criticised by Manchester UnitedManchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
Manager Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...
over the standards of referees in the English game after his team were knocked out of the 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...
by Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
on 8 March 2008, blaming a series of allegedly bad decisions by match referee Martin Atkinson
Martin Atkinson
-Europe and international:On 13 October 2007, Atkinson refereed a group C qualifier for Euro 2008 between Moldova and Turkey. The game in the Moldovan capital Chişinău ended a 1–1 draw, with the referee showing two yellow cards....
. Speaking immediately after the game, Ferguson pointed the finger at both Atkinson and Hackett: "Hackett has got a lot to answer for in this country," said the Scot. "He's not doing his job properly. He should be assessed like everyone else is assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, the players are assessed, referees are assessed. Martin Atkinson will referee next week, no problem, but his performance today should not be accepted in our game. Alex Ferguson was later charged by the FA for improper conduct.
- Football League Handbooks, 1972–1975
- Rothmans Football Yearbooks, 1976–1994
- Keith Hackett (1986) Hackett's Law, Collins Willow
- Gilbert Upton (2005) Football League and Premiership Referees 1888 to 2005, Soccerdata