Top 10 things you need to know about World Cup ref Howard Webb

By Mirror Football in 2010 World Cup Blog

Published 12:28 09/07/10

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England will have a say in the World Cup final after all following FIFA's decision to appoint Howard Webb as Sunday's referee.

It will complete a historic season for the burly Yorkshireman who also took charge of the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in May.

But what do we know about him? MirrorFootball's Dan Silver and Chris Bloor are here with all the answers.

1) Howard Melton Webb (Melton!) was born on July 14, 1971 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. An imposing figure, he stands 6'3" in his socks and favours the intimidating slaphead look that's served EastEnders' Mitchell brothers so well over the years.

2) The son of a miner, Webb's no-nonsense approach and fondness for rules and regulations extends to his off-pitch career as well, where he's a sergeant in the South Yorkshire police force. Robbers of Barnsley can sleep easy for now, though, as Webb is currently on a five-year sabbatical in order to apprehend Premier League ne'er-do-wells instead.

3) The first game he ever took charge of was an under-11s match in the Yorkshire town of Orgreave, in 1989. Apparently Webb was shocked by the childish behaviour and blatant play-acting... that he encountered when stepping up to the Premier League in 2003 (Boom-tish).

4) In-between reffing the U-11s and the Premier League he worked his way up football's broad-bottomed pyramid, taking in the sights and smells of the Northern Counties East (linesman 1993-95, and referee 1995-98), the Football League (linesman 1996-98, referee 2000-03), the Premier League (linesman 1996-2000) and the Conference (referee 1996-2000). The first Premier League game he reffed was a nail-biting 0-0 draw between Fulham and Wolves on October 18, 2003.

5) Perhaps due to all those years chasing criminals down Rotherham high-street, he's no slouch and can sprint 40 metres in only 4.25s. For comparison's sake, that's about twice as fast as England hotshot Emile Heskey can manage (probably).

6) Webb is, without doubt, an excellent referee, but... His career has not been without controversy. During Euro 2008, Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk declared he wanted to murder Howard after he awarded a last-minute penalty to hosts Austria. On arrival in Salzburg for his next game, our here was met by the head of police, who greeted him the words: "Meester Vebb, you will not be killed in Salzburg."

7) Presumably he's a big fan of video technology as in 2009 he caused an international rumpus by awarding Brazil a last-minute penalty (you'd think he'd have learned after Poland...) to facilitate their 4-3 Confederations Cup win over Egypt. Initially Webb signalled for a corner but then changed his mind and sent off Ahmed Al Muhamadi for a handball after apparently consulting with the fourth official. Egyptian chiefs were furious, claiming Webb's decision had been swayed by advice gleaned from a video replay.

8) Closer to home, he's been involved in a number of controversies, many of which, coincidentally enough, have occurred at Old Trafford. This led to the much forwarded Twitter gag this week about the Premier League's remaining representatives in South Africa: Liverpool - Reina, Torres, Kut, Babel; Manchester City - Boateng, Villa, De Jong; Manchester United - Howard Webb.

9) As befits a man of his stature, Webb has a burgeoning sideline as a film star. He features heavily in the 2009 documentary Les Arbitres (aka Kill The Referee), an attempt to highlight that fact that referees aren't androids, but are as susceptible to human error as the players. Although not, one hopes, as susceptible as Titus Bramble.

10) So far during this World Cup, he has produced more cards per game than any other official. So expect lots of bookings, some fast sprinting and, of course, a last minute penalty on Sunday.

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