Kevin Friend (born 8 July 1971)
confirmation at

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

official website. Retrieved on 26 March 2008. is a former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

based in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. He is a member of the

Leicestershire and Rutland County Football Association The Leicestershire and Rutland County Football Association, also simply known as the ''Leicestershire & Rutland CFA,'' ''Leicestershire FA'' or ''LRCFA'', is the governing body of football in the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. Affilia ...

. His most notable appointments have been to referee the 2012 Community Shield, played at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

, the 2013 League Cup final which was held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, and the 2019 FA Cup Final which was also held at Wembley.

Career

Friend started refereeing at the age of 14 in his home county of Leicestershire. He officiated in the

Leicestershire Senior League The Leicestershire Senior League (currently sponsored by Everards Brewery) is a football competition based in Leicestershire, England. History The league was formed in 1896, had a two-year hiatus between 1901 and 1903, and has run continuously ...

and Midland Football Alliance before being promoted to the National List of Referees, and later to the Select Group of Referees ahead of the 2009–10 season. His first Premier League fixture was on 20 September 2009: a 2–1 victory for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

; Friend showed two yellow cards during his debut appointment in England's top-flight. Friend issued his first Premier League red card on 15 December 2009 to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

captain

Lorik Cana Lorik Agim Cana (; born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian former professional footballer. He is currently the Grassroots ambassador for children's football in Albania, named by the Albanian Football Association on 26 October 2017. Cana played in the ...

for a second bookable offence in his team's 2–0 defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. He refereed the 2009

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

final at

on 10 May between Whitley Bay and Glossop North End, won 2–0 by the Bay. During a

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

match in 2010 between Norwich City and Milton Keynes Dons Friend issued 11 yellow cards, including two to Dons player

Aaron Wilbraham Aaron Thomas Wilbraham (born 21 October 1979) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is currently assistant manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Playing career Early career Born in Knutsford ...

. Friend showed a red card to

defender Wes Brown in a 2013 Premier League match against Stoke City, which the FA later rescinded. In 2016, Friend was controversially prevented from officiating a

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

match between

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

and title contenders

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, due to him being a supporter of fellow title challengers Leicester City. At the end of the 2021–22 season, Friend retired from officiating, but will continue to work for PGMOL as manager of the Select Group 2 referees.

2012 FA Community Shield

On 3 July 2012, it was announced that Friend would referee the

2012 FA Community Shield The 2012 FA Community Shield (also known as The FA Community Shield sponsored by McDonald's for sponsorship reasons) was the 90th FA Community Shield, a football match played on 12 August 2012 between the winners of the previous season's Premier L ...

, played on 12 August at

. His assistants were Michael McDonough and Richard West, and Anthony Taylor was the fourth official. Chelsea were defeated 3–2 by

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

Branislav Ivanović Branislav Ivanović ( sr-Cyrl, Бранислав Ивановић, ; born 22 February 1984) is a Serbian former professional footballer. A versatile defender, Ivanović played as a right back, although he can also play as a centre back. Ivanovi ...

was sent off for the Blues for a high challenge towards the end of the first half. Ivanović did not serve any subsequent suspension, however, after FA rule changes regarding pre-season fixtures.

2013 League Cup final

Friend refereed the 2013 League Cup final at

on 24 February. The match was contested by

League 2 The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

and

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

. Swansea won the final 5–0. An incident early in the second-half, when the Premier League side were already 3–0 up, saw Friend adjudge Bradford goalkeeper

Matt Duke Matthew Duke GBE GVCO (born 16 June 1977) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeping coach of Championship side Sheffield United. Career Hull City He joined Hull City on 23 July ...

to have committed a professional foul. The official dismissed Duke and awarded Swansea a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

, which was converted by

Jonathan de Guzmán Jonathan Alexander de Guzmán (born 13 September 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Sparta Rotterdam. Born in Canada, he represented the Netherlands internationally. De Guzmán is Canadian-born, but made himself a ...

; he also scored again in the 90th minute. The other Swansea goals came courtesy of

Nathan Dyer Nathan Antony Jonah Dyer (born 29 November 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his career at Swansea City, where he made over 300 appearances. He started playing as a teenager at Southamp ...

(2) and

Michu Miguel Pérez Cuesta (born 21 March 1986), known as Michu (), is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker or attacking midfielder. He started playing for Real Oviedo, subsequently representing Celta and Rayo Vallecano, ...

2019 FA Cup Final

Friend refereed the 2019 FA Cup Final at

on 18 May 2019. The match was contested between

and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, with Manchester City winning the match 6–0.

Statistics

Statistics are for all competitions as of 18 May 2019. No records are available prior to 2003–04.

References

External links

Kevin Friend Profile
at Refworld.com

at Soccerbase.com English football referees Living people 1971 births Sportspeople from Bristol People from Leicester English Football League referees Premier League referees FA Cup Final referees {{Referee-stub