Paul S. Danson (born 2 May 1958,
Leicestershire[Birthdate confirmation and profile](_blank)
at the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
official website. Retrieved on 19 July 2007.) is an English former association football
referee in
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
and
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 Fo ...
. During his time on the List he was based in
Leicester.
Career
In 1972, he qualified as a referee, progressing through 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 the
Southern League.
He became a Football League
linesman in 1984, graduating to the Football League referees list three years later, at the age of only twenty nine.
His major breakthrough came in 1994. He was one of three new referees appointed to the Premier List along with fellow
Leicestershire official
Peter Jones and
Gary Willard from
Sussex. Over the next three seasons all his league games were at Premiership level (as was standard for Premiership referees at the time). However, his performances did not always find favour – most notably a game at
Highbury
Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington
in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads.
The manor house was sit ...
between
Arsenal and
Sunderland on 28 September 1996,
† when two away players and the Sunderland manager were sent off before half-time. At the end of the
1996–97 season he was dropped from the Premier List and reverted to Football League level.
For the next few years he was one of its senior officials, often receiving key appointments such as an
old First Division play-off
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
semi-final on 17 May 2001 at
Deepdale
Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested".
History ...
, where
Preston beat
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
after
extra-time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...
and
penalties (Preston had already missed a
spot-kick during the regulation 90 minutes). The then Birmingham manager
Trevor Francis
Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player foll ...
was said to be "visibly furious" after Danson moved the location of the penalty shootout from the empty end of the ground to the goal behind which the Preston fans were situated (on police advice), and he removed his players from the field in protest for a short while.
Following a
Football League Championship match between
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
and
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
at
Selhurst Park on 20 September 2003, he had to attend hospital in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
(
Surrey) for treatment, due to being hit in the mouth and rendered unconscious whilst dealing with a three-man altercation on the pitch during the match, which ended 2–2 and generated eight
cautions.
Injury
to his mouth, Crystal Palace v. West Brom, 2003: Independent on Sunday
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
report via the ''FindArticles.com'' website. Retrieved on 19 July 2007.
Matters took a very different turn in the 2004–05 season. He refereed only three games in the top division of the Football League and was largely on lower division duty. At the end of that season he lost his place on the League List after a tenure of eighteen years. Potentially he could have had another two years before retirement and had that happened he would have completed twenty years and become the longest-serving referee since the 1920s.‡ However, he did gain experience in Europe as a fourth official
In association football, an assistant referee (previously known as a linesman or lineswoman) is an official empowered with assisting the referee in enforcing the Laws of the Game during a match. Although assistants are not required under the L ...
and assistant referee.
He returned to the assistants' list for the first time since 1987, although he did handle three games as a referee in the Football Conference North in season 2005–06 before finishing his top-class career completely.
References
Print
*Football League Handbooks 1984–1987
*Rothmans / Sky Sports Football Yearbooks 1987–2006
*Rothmans Football Yearbook (1997), Headline, (†p14)
* ‡ Gilbert Upton (2005) Football League and Premiership Referees 1888 to 2005, Soccerdata, p20.
Internet
External links
Paul Danson Referee Statistics
at Soccerbase
''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60 ...
.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danson, Paul
1958 births
English football referees
People from Leicester
Living people
English Football League referees
Premier League referees