Robert J. Harris (born c. 1957) is an English former
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 ...
who operated in
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 ...
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 Foo ...
. He was for a time regarded as one of the best
linesman on the Premier League, before his promotion to first 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 ...
and then the
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 ...
referees lists. But his
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 ...
referee period did not go well as he was the recipient of criticism for some very high-profile contentious incidents at
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
,
West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...
and
Tranmere which without doubt disrupted his time on the referees list. During his refereeing career he was mainly based in the city of
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
Career
He took up refereeing in 1975. He quickly progressed through the local Oxford Junior and Senior Leagues onto the
Hellenic Football League
The Hellenic Football League, currently known as the Uhlsport Hellenic Football League for sponsorship reasons, is an English men's football league covering an area including the English counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, southern Buck ...
. After that he got further promotions onto the
Football Combination
The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...
in 1982 and then the
Southern League in 1985. He became a Football League
linesman in 1988.
During the 1989–90 season Harris was involved in the match looked upon as saving Alex Ferguson's Old Trafford career, the FA cup third round tie between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United in which Harris acted as a
linesman. The match was believed to be important as after some seven games without a win, should Manchester United lose this game Ferguson would be sacked soon after, this being his last chance to get a win. During the second half of the match Mark Robins scored for Manchester United, but with only three minutes of the match remaining Nottingham Forest felt they had equalized when following a goalmouth scramble the ball found its way into the Manchester United goal. The referee immediately gave the goal until Harris flagged for an infringement against Nottingham Forest and the goal was disallowed, Television replays after the match were unable to discover the reason for his decision and what he could have seen from his position on the line. With Manchester United winning the match 1-0 they went on to win the FA cup that season, giving Ferguson his first major trophy as their manager.
He made progress and in 1992 he became one of the first ever
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
assistant referees. A few months later he assisted
Philip Don
Philip Don (born 10 March 1952) is a former football referee and school headteacher from England. Don was originally from Sheffield but his teaching career took him south to Middlesex. He is counted amongst the top 100 referees of all time in ...
in the
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...
between
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
and
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 ...
. He was one of the first assistants for the new Premier League when that started a few months later.
Two years later came further honours. In May he was appointed to assist Philip Don once more, this time in the
1994 European Cup Final between
AC Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...
and
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. This was the first time that three English officials have controlled the Final, (In May 2010 Howard Webb and his team of English officials were appointed to the 2010 Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid). Harris was also appointed to the National Referees List for the following season (
1994–95).
Over the next four seasons he established himself in the Football League. He took charge of a greater number of games, including play-off matches, and in 1998 he was promoted to the Premier League referees List.
Harris has also refereed two Coppa Italia finals; first in 1999 between Parma and Fiorentina, and then the 2000 final between Internazionale and Roma.
Criticisms
Harris served as a Premier referee for three seasons but three major incidents marred this period. In May 1999 he sent off three
West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...
players as they lost heavily at home to
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
.
David Elleray
David Roland Elleray, (born 3 September 1954), is an English former football referee who officiated in the Football League, Premier League and for FIFA. As of September 2021 he held the position of Technical Director at the IFAB.
During his ca ...
was fourth official. After the game Harris narrowly escaped being attacked by home supporters as he waited in his car at traffic lights.
† This led to a new policy by the Premier League where all officials are transported to games by people-carrier, to reduce the risk of such an event.
In January 2000 he
sent off
In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...
Clint Hill of
Tranmere near the end of their home
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
tie with Sunderland. As Hill was leaving the field Tranmere made a substitution but in the confusion no player was actually withdrawn. None of the officials noticed this, and the home team continued to play with eleven men rather than ten in the final minutes. This error of Law is treated very seriously, and as a result Harris was suspended and did not officiate again for another two months.
‡
Harris also showed
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 ...
player
Lee Hendrie
Lee Andrew Hendrie (born 18 May 1977) is an English former professional footballer and pundit for Sky Sports.
As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Aston Villa where he spent fourteen years. He also play ...
two yellow cards in a match against
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
at
Highbury Stadium
Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" due to its location and was given the affectionate nickname ...
in October 2000. He only showed the red card after numerous players from both teams pointed to the large video screens alongside the pitch, which showed the team line-ups plus information on goalscorer, bookings and substitutions.
These errors led to him being nicknamed "Rolf", after
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...
.
He did carry on at Premier level for the next season, after which he was stepped down to the Football League as from the
2001–02 campaign. This coincided with his moving from Oxford to the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
, making him the first League referee ever from this location.
¶ (James Linnington a current Football League referee is from the Isle of Wight) He only remained on the Football League for this one season, before he was then stepped down again for the 2002–03 season to Football Conference Level where he continue to referee until November 2005 when he retired to become a FA Assessor.
Personal life
He is married to Ann with whom he has a daughter and two sons. He also enjoys his life with his two grandchildren Georgie and Charlotte. He works for Ford UK, as the warranty director for the UK.
References
Print
*Football League Handbooks, 1988–1993
*Rothmans Football Yearbooks, 1994-2002 (
‡2000 edition, p21)
*
†David Elleray (2004) The Man in the Middle, Time Warner, p202-204
*
¶Gilbert Upton (2005) Football League and Premiership Referees 1888 to 2005, Soccerdata
Internet
External links
Rob Harris Referee Statisticsat
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:Harris, Rob
1957 births
English football referees
Sportspeople from Oxford
Living people
English Football League referees
Premier League referees