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Matt Messias

Personal information
Full name	Matthew David Messias
Date of birth	May 7, 1964 (1964-05-07) (age 45)
Place of birth	?, England
Other occupation	Qualified PE teacher
Domestic
Years	League	Role
1984- ?  ? - ?  ? - ?  ? -1991 1991-1992 1992-1996 1996-2000 2000-2006	York & District League Northern Counties East League Football Combination Football Conference Football League Premier League Football League Premier League	Referee Referee Referee Referee Asst. referee Asst. referee Referee Referee
International
Years	League	Role
1994-2003 1994-2003 2003-2006 2003-2006	UEFA listed FIFA listed UEFA listed FIFA listed	Asst. referee Asst. referee Referee Referee

Matthew David Messias^[1] (born May 7, 1964^[2]) is an English former football referee, who operated in the Football League, the Premier League, and also for UEFA and FIFA. He was first based in York during his time as an official,^[3] subsequently moving to Barnsley, also in the county of Yorkshire. His other occupation was as a physical education teacher.

Career

He first took up refereeing in 1982, whilst still playing (for the Hertfordshire county team, and for St John's College in York).^[4] His playing career ended after cartilage problems in 1984, and when he graduated in Leeds as a teacher, he took up a post as head of PE in Thirsk. At about this time, he started to get more involved in refereeing, first handling matches in the York and District Saturday League, then progressing to the Northern Counties East League.^[4]

After further promotions to the Football Combination and the Football Conference,^[4] he was appointed as an assistant referee on the Football League list in 1991, and in 1992, he advanced to the Premier League assistants' list. This was bettered in 1994 when he received the call from FIFA to officiate for them as an assistant also.^[2]

In 1996, Messias became a Football League referee, and stepped up to the Premier League in season 2000-01, refereeing his first match on December 16, 2000 at Pride Park, when Derby County defeated Coventry City 1-0, thanks to a Malcolm Christie goal after 9 minutes.^[5] He booked four players, including Christie for "simulation", although he later discovered that the player had not actually dived.^[4]

When Ipswich Town played Spurs in a Premier League match at Portman Road on January 12, 2002, Messias failed to finish the game due to a calf injury, fourth official Rob Styles taking over from him.^[6] It was not serious, and he was able to referee an FA Cup match four days later.^[7]

In 2003, he was appointed to the list of FIFA referees. Also in that year, he moved to Barnsley from his previous home in York - he had married a Barnsley girl, and the couple had recently had a baby together.^[4] And during a Premier League match between Newcastle United and Birmingham City at St James' Park on August 30, 2003, he accidentally struck the City midfielder Robbie Savage in the face with his elbow whilst signalling a free kick. Despite this, Savage finished the game, which Birmingham won 1-0.^[8]

On May 24, 2004, Messias was fourth official for Jeff Winter at the FA Cup Final, when Manchester United beat Millwall by 3-0 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.^[9] He subsequently headed off to Germany for the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, and first handled two group matches - Italy versus Belarus on May 27,^[10] and Switzerland against Portugal on May 30.^[11] Then, on June 15, 2004, he took charge of the competition semi-final between Sweden and Serbia & Montenegro at Oberhausen, which the latter country won 6-5 on penalties after a 0-0 draw following extra time.^[12] He then went on to officiate from the middle twice in the UEFA Cup in September 2004 - a first round tie between Banská Bystrica and Benfica, which the Portuguese side won 3-0,^[13] and a group stage match as Feyenoord defeated Schalke 04 by 2 goals to 1.^[14]

2005 was a mixed year for him; in April Messias was suspended for 14 days "for less than proficiently applying the Laws of the Game" according to the official Football Association website.^[15] On August 17, 2005, he took control of a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification match between FYR Macedonia and Finland at Skopje City Stadium, which the away side won 3-0.^[16] In September 2005, he also refereed a UEFA Cup first round tie between F.C. Copenhagen and SV Hamburg.^[17] In November 2005, Messias was rated fourth best referee in England by UEFA, who had regularly given him Club Competition appointments since 2004,^[18] despite by this time being completely overlooked for games in the Premiership.

On January 19, 2006, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited announced that by mutual consent Messias would retire as a Select Group referee as from February 1, 2006.^[19] As it turned out, by the time of the announcement, he had already chosen his last game to referee in a top class competition, this being the FA Cup third round tie between West Bromwich Albion and Reading at the Hawthorns on January 7, 2006, which finished 1-1, courtesy of two penalties converted in the last eight minutes of the match by Zoltán Gera of West Brom and Kevin Doyle of Reading.^[20]

Player influence: Wolves v. Millwall, 2003

In April 2006, it was reported that Messias had openly admitted to being persuaded by players to "let them get on with it", particularly during the match between Wolves and Millwall at Molineux on April 19, 2003 in the Football League Championship competition.^[21] Referring to the two captains on the day (Paul Ince for Wolves and Dennis Wise for Millwall), he said: "At the toss-up they say 'Matt, leave us alone today please, we are going to kick **** out of each other. Will you just let us get on with it?' I had to think on my feet. I could either ruin their game by being involved too much, or risk abuse from supporters by letting them have a great time in the middle of the pitch. Against my better judgment, I opted to go with the players and they did exactly what they said they were going to do."^[22] The game ended 3-0 to Wolves, and with neither player cautioned.^[21]

Keith Hackett, the Premier League referees' chief, said: "The referee's brief is to control the game. If the laws of the game are not applied he will suffer as the assessor will pick up on this. If he [Messias] is saying he abdicated his responsibility in this article, maybe that is why he retired from football. I'm not disbelieving what he has said but sometimes when you are away from the game things can get exaggerated."^[23]

For his part, Messias highlighted the position of the professional referee regarding his peers, and also in relation to the media. "You are under a lot of pressure from players, managers and supporters. You drive home after a game and people will be on the radio having a go at you, Match of the Day and the Sunday papers will be having a go at you, but you learn to deal with it- to control the controllables."^[22]

Religion

The Portsmouth F.C. defender, Linvoy Primus, credited Messias (a Christian) with reinforcing his Christian faith, once urging him "not to kick Laurent Robert because the devil was trying to get him sent off", during a match with Newcastle.^[24]

Life after football

He ran a business, Matt Messias Consultancy Limited, offering help in coping with stressful occupations similar to that of an active professional football referee.^[25] He also appears as a guest speaker at sporting events, an example being his attendance at the Barnsley F.C. Supporters Trust meeting on February 6, 2007^[26] (he had already been an adviser to the main Barnsley Football Club, and had become refereeing mentor to Ryan Newman from Barnsley, who had recently become a Conference North league referee^[27]).

He visited schools to pass on the benefit of his experience, such as his day at George Pindar Community Sports College in early September 2007.^[28] On September 27, 2007, he attended the Leicester-Shire & Rutland PE & Sport Conference 2007, held at Loughborough University, where he delivered keynote addresses intended to 'Include, Improve and Inspire'.^[29] Matt Messias and his family migrated to New Zealand on 7 October 2008. Messias will continue his teaching career at Macleans College Auckland.

References

External links

• Matt Messias Referee Statistics at soccerbase.com