Robert "Robbie" Hart (born 9 October 1947) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

former football referee in the English Football League 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 officiating career he was based in Darlington, County Durham.

Career

Hart reached the Football League Linesmen's List at the age of 29 in 1977. However, he took another nine seasons to gain promotion to the Referees List. Once he had made that step up though he made swifter progress. One of his early games was between Manchester City and

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest a ...

on 7 November 1987, when the home side won 10–1, the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

team's only goal being a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

. He became further established and was appointed as one of the first

referees for the

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

season. Over the next four seasons he handled most of his games at this level. He also took charge of key Cup games, including an

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 ...

semi-final in 1995 in which Everton beat

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4–1. The following season was his last one as a top-class referee, and saw his greatest honour as he refereed the Coca-Cola Cup Final between Aston Villa and

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 ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, with the Midlands side winning 3–0.Coca Cola Cup Final, 1996
Aston Villa v. Leeds: soccerbase.com website.

References

Print

*Football League Handbooks, 1977–1985 *Rothmans Football Yearbooks, 1986–1996

Internet

External links

Robbie Hart Referee Statistics
at

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.com (1992–93 and 1995-96 only) 1947 births Living people Sportspeople from Darlington English football referees English Football League referees Premier League referees {{England-footy-bio-stub