REFEREE OF THE WEEK: KEVIN FRIEND
 |
| Low-key but effective - Kevin Friend |
A RARE visit to Selhurst
Park
beckons on Saturday for Kevin Friend who will be man in the middle for
Saturday’s match between Crystal Palace
and Stoke City.
The Leicester official’s previous visit there was on September 22 last season when visitors Swansea won 2-0.
Since then, he has officiated at one other Palace match - the 2-2 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage on May 11 last season.
Over the same period, he has been in charge of two Stoke matches - the 2-0 home win against Sunderland (November 23, 2013) and the 3-0 defeat at Tottenham (December 29, 2013).
Recognised within the game as a “tidy”, efficient and below-the-radar referee, Friend, who is 44, has rarely made headlines since his first top-flight appointment on September 20, 2009, when Wolves beat Fulham.
Honours have include being appointed for the 2012 Community Shield final (played at Villa Park) when Chelsea were defeated 3–2 by Manchester City, with Friend sending off Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic for a high challenge towards the end of the first half.
The following season, he refereed the League Cup final at Wembley when League 2 side Bradford City lost 5-0 to Swansea.
An incident early in the second-half, when the Premier League side were already 3–0 up, saw Friend judge Bradford goalkeeper Matt Duke to have committed a professional foul.
He awarded Swansea a penalty which was converted by Jonathan de Guzman.
One of the relatively few occasions when Friend has been the focus of controversy came when he sent off Aaron Wilbraham of MK Dons (later to become a Palace player) in a League One match against Norwich City.
During that match, he issued a total of 11 yellow cards, including two to Wilbraham, disallowed a 32nd-minute Norwich goal and dismissed an 82nd-minute penalty appeal by Norwich for an apparent handball by Wilbraham prior to his sending off.
He was also the referee in the Liverpool v Cheslea match on April 21 last year when a penalty area tussle led to Luis Suarez biting the forearm of Branislav Ivanovic.
The action resulted in a 10-match ban for the former, though Friend had taken no action during the match, simply warning both players about their conduct.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2013/apr/22/luis-surez-bites-branislav-ivanovic-video
Much earlier in his career, when he was 16, he was assaulted while in charge of a match and considered giving up but was persuaded by his father to stick at it.
Friend started refereeing when he was just 14.
Managers who have criticised his decisions over the years include Paul Lambert, Roberto Martinez, Tony Pulis, Gus Poyet, Dave Jones and Avram Grant.
Friend’s last match was at the Liberty Stadium on Tuesday December 2 when Swansea beat QPR 2-0.
The Leicester official’s previous visit there was on September 22 last season when visitors Swansea won 2-0.
Since then, he has officiated at one other Palace match - the 2-2 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage on May 11 last season.
Over the same period, he has been in charge of two Stoke matches - the 2-0 home win against Sunderland (November 23, 2013) and the 3-0 defeat at Tottenham (December 29, 2013).
Recognised within the game as a “tidy”, efficient and below-the-radar referee, Friend, who is 44, has rarely made headlines since his first top-flight appointment on September 20, 2009, when Wolves beat Fulham.
Honours have include being appointed for the 2012 Community Shield final (played at Villa Park) when Chelsea were defeated 3–2 by Manchester City, with Friend sending off Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic for a high challenge towards the end of the first half.
The following season, he refereed the League Cup final at Wembley when League 2 side Bradford City lost 5-0 to Swansea.
An incident early in the second-half, when the Premier League side were already 3–0 up, saw Friend judge Bradford goalkeeper Matt Duke to have committed a professional foul.
He awarded Swansea a penalty which was converted by Jonathan de Guzman.
One of the relatively few occasions when Friend has been the focus of controversy came when he sent off Aaron Wilbraham of MK Dons (later to become a Palace player) in a League One match against Norwich City.
During that match, he issued a total of 11 yellow cards, including two to Wilbraham, disallowed a 32nd-minute Norwich goal and dismissed an 82nd-minute penalty appeal by Norwich for an apparent handball by Wilbraham prior to his sending off.
He was also the referee in the Liverpool v Cheslea match on April 21 last year when a penalty area tussle led to Luis Suarez biting the forearm of Branislav Ivanovic.
The action resulted in a 10-match ban for the former, though Friend had taken no action during the match, simply warning both players about their conduct.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2013/apr/22/luis-surez-bites-branislav-ivanovic-video
Much earlier in his career, when he was 16, he was assaulted while in charge of a match and considered giving up but was persuaded by his father to stick at it.
Friend started refereeing when he was just 14.
Managers who have criticised his decisions over the years include Paul Lambert, Roberto Martinez, Tony Pulis, Gus Poyet, Dave Jones and Avram Grant.
Friend’s last match was at the Liberty Stadium on Tuesday December 2 when Swansea beat QPR 2-0.
PHOTO CREDIT: Wikipedia Commons using Flickr upload by Dudek1337.
The full list of appointments for the forthcoming weekend is below.
| Saturday 13 December 2014 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K.O. | MATCHES | REFEREE | ASST. REF. 1 | ASST. REF. 2 | 4TH OFFICIAL | |
| 15:00 | Burnley v Southampton | Mark Clattenburg | S Beck | J Collin | M Jones | |
| 15:00 | Chelsea v Hull | Chris Foy | H Lennard | A Garratt | P Tierney | |
| 15:00 | Crystal Palace v Stoke | Kevin Friend | M McDonough | R Ganfield | C Pawson | |
| 15:00 | Leicester v Man City | Jonathan Moss | L Betts | D England | P Gibbs | |
| 15:00 | Sunderland v West Ham | Phil Dowd | D Bryan | P Kirkup | D Bond | |
| 15:00 | West Brom v Aston Villa | Mike Dean | J Brooks | S Long | M Oliver | |
| 17:30 | Arsenal v Newcastle | Lee Mason | S Burt | A Halliday | N Swarbrick | |
| Sunday 14 December 2014 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K.O. | MATCHES | REFEREE | ASST. REF. 1 | ASST. REF. 2 | 4TH OFFICIAL |
| 13:30 | Man Utd v Liverpool | Martin Atkinson | M Mullarkey | S Child | J Moss |
| 16:00 | Swansea v Spurs | Robert Madley | D Cann | M Scholes | A Taylor |
| Monday 15 December 2014 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K.O. | MATCHES | REFEREE | ASST. REF. 1 | ASST. REF. 2 | 4TH OFFICIAL |
| 20:00 | Everton v QPR | Neil Swarbrick | G Beswick | M Perry | S Attwell |
posted by The Wryneck @ 10:36
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