Extra Time with Keith Hackett

Extra Time with Keith Hackett

Early Years

Football gave me the opportunity to visit over 100 countries. I was brought up in a terraced house my father worked in the steelworks at the bottom of the hill. With two brothers, and a sister, money was always a problem, but we never went short of food on the table. On our way to school, we would play football with a tennis ball. Every door on the way was a goal.

When I left school, I took up an apprenticeship eventually becoming a design draughtsman. I attended night school to earn my qualifications, while It was around this time that I played for a local grassroots team. I was selected to represent the team to attend a course on the laws of the game at the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association. I would dash home from work and then attend the course for six evenings. I successfully passed the examination and eventually I became a qualified class three referee.

I had no intention of taking up the whistle initially, however one Friday afternoon I was at work and took a phone call from the County FA Secretary. It went “Is that Mr Hackett? You’re appointed to referee Hillsborough Boys Club v Sheffield United Juniors at Cadman Road, it’s a, 3pm kick-off” and the phone went down. I had no intention of becoming a referee, but with my dad’s encouragement, I borrowed a referee’s kit, and on that Saturday, morning bought an Ingersoll pocket stopwatch, and a whistle!!

As I entered the school playing field that afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed my participation in the game. That was the start with absolutely no vision that one day I would referee a Cup Final at Wembley.

I left the steelworks and joined Henderson Doors in Romford, Essex, as a Technical Salesman. A job that I thoroughly enjoyed and when the keys for a company car was handed over, and I could then get to games in mid-week, as well as at the weekend with ease. My refereeing career was advancing, moving from Class three to one in the first three years of officiating. When the Northern Premier League was formed, I was appointed to the panel of referees.

I was now officiating games at the semi-professional level, facing challenges of dealing with players who were now playing for money. After 12 years, and well over a thousand games officiated, I was amazed to be promoted to the Football League in 1972. I was a linesman (Assistant Referee) now officiating at clubs in all the four divisions with visits to Old Trafford, Anfield etc I watched the referees out in the middle very closely picking up tips and training much more during the week. Then that surprise interview and the letter in 1975 informing me that I had been promoted to the Football League Referees panel.

It feels like it was yesterday when I walked out to officiate in the middle Stockport County v Northampton Town. For the next twenty years I would travel the country officiating games, I would also continue to officiate in local parks at grassroots level So it would be for example, Anfield Saturday and The Angel v Black Bull Taverners on the Sunday morning.

An FA Cup date with Wembley

In 1979 I was appointed to an FA Cup Semi Final at Hillsborough. Sheffield Wednesday was a team I supported and at a young age my dad and I would walk to games which was a distance of three miles from home to the ground, stopping at the pub on the way. I would have my bottle of pop and a bottle of orange juice. My dad a couple of pints of Stones beer. Our terraced house at Parkwood Springs had been demolished and the memory of going to Hillsborough was still strong so I decided on the day of the match to drive to where I use to live, parked the car up on waste land and walked to the Stadium. Arsenal v Liverpool was a bit of a boring score draw but for me an amazing experience.

At the end of that season I ran the line at Wembley Arsenal v Manchester United known as the five-minute final. Two years later I was appointed to referee the 100th FA Cup Final Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur. The first game ended in a draw and that following Thursday I ran out once again at Wembley to officiate the replay.

Before going out to officiate the first game I was asked by The Football Association Administrator “You have a choice to make Mr Hackett, either a £35 match fee or a gold medal, It was a no brainer.

International Days

In 1981 I was appointed to the FIFA International panel which for the next ten years was a ticket to travel around the World.

My first UEFA match was in Malta a game between Floriana v Standard Liege, In 1982.
I was invited to be a guest Referee on the North American Soccer League, my first game was between the Tampa Bay Rowdies v Fire Lauderdale, I was for six weeks flying across America and Canada officiating well known teams and players. Clubs included the likes of; New York Cosmos, Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto Blizzard, Chicago Sting, Portland Timbers, San Jose and many more.

Above is Keith’s NASL Officials ID Card from the 1982/83 season.

Meeting an Idol

I was heading one early evening in New York towards Giants Stadium when due to traffic we were stationary in Lincoln Tunnel. Suddenly my driver jumped out of the car and started shouting towards a guy who had ran past the car. The door of the car opened and in stepped the Captain of cosmos the famous Carlos Alberto, the same Carlos Alberto who captained, and raised the World Cup above his head for Brazil! This was an experience that I will never forget. I say one thing however as we neared Giants Stadium, I stopped the car and got out deciding to walk the remaining 500 yards to the stadium. I do not think that it would have been a good look getting out of Hagar with the Brazilian. That same year I was appointed to the FIFA Youth World Cup in Mexico. That gave me the opportunity experience of officiating in the huge Azteca Stadium.

Brazil legend Carlos Alberto Torres

Career highlights

1988 was a good year for me officiating the following games, the Euro 88 Opening game, West Germany v Italy. I also officiated at the 88 Seoul Olympic Games refereeing the semi-final between West Germany v Brazil that same year.

below, meeting of the captains at kick off for the opening game of Euro 88.

The honour of officiating the Football League Centenary game at Wembley, captain of the World team Maradonna, shaking hands with Bryan Robson captain of the Football League representative team.

Another memorable game that I officiated was Gdańsk v Juventus, where the country was in turmoil and one man Lech Welesa was the Head of Solidarity. On the morning of the game myself and two linesmen were on our way to the Stadium to attend the regular 10am meeting when the car pulled into a church yard. We were ushered inside the Church and there we were introduced to Welesa and he expressed his joy that we were officiating the game. He asked me to get a message back that food and clothing from England was getting to those shipyard workers who were grateful. I asked if he would be attending the game and all I got back was a smile.

During the match the ball went over the fence surrounding the pitch and suddenly the crowd parted and there was Walesa and shouts of ‘Solidarity’. There was a 12-minute delay to the game and I was informed that the television broadcast had been switched off.

I had many memorable games and another that stays in the mind was when I was appointed appointed to the last game between an East German Team v one from West Germany on Unification Night. This was a true honour, and a game with such importance when reflecting back in time.

Media & Publication

You are the Ref was my first publication that eventually resulted in me working with Legendary Artist Paul Trevillion.

We also had a regular column in the SHOOT Magazine, and then the Guardian Newspaper Eventually we produced a series of Books under the same title Hackett’s Law.

I now write regular articles for the Daily Telegraph and Football Insider. I also write for a Magazine in China which I still really enjoy.

Full time

I retired from active officiating in 1995 deciding that I would end my career officiating Manchester United v Liverpool, however I still officiated grassroots football for a number of years after.

I also continued to assess the performances of Match officials in England and Europe. I had in my refereeing career faced challenges of getting time off work having on one occasion to charter an aircraft in order to get back from the Stuttgart v Feyenoord I could not get time off to officiate the European Cup Final and had to return the appointment. Football was not paying my mortgage. It was later when I had discussions with Sir David Richards and involved in the setting up of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited.

Life after the whistle

Having retired from refereeing and experiencing the loss of two jobs because of my involvement in our national game it had been increasingly difficult for young referees to reach the top level given the time and dedication that was required. I had several discussions with the Chairman of the Premier League Sir David Richards. Fortunately, the decision was made and the Professional Game Match Officials Limited was formed.

The Funding Partners are The FA, The Premier League and The Football League and each would have a representative on the Board with an Independent Non-Executive Chairman Graham Noakes an Administrator at The FA would be the Company Secretary and the Finance Director of the Premier League would have the PGMOL to look after the finances.

Philip Don was appointed General Manager and I became the Development Manager. The base salary for the Professional Referees would be £43k plus match fees. many of the officials we wanted had jobs where they would lose out on pension. So, to overcome this obstacle we agreed that they could continue in employment a second job, working a maximum 20 hours a week. This worked well for the policemen and teachers in the group. A special arrangement was made for David Elleray, who was a Housemaster at Harrow School. Two years after the launch of the PGMOL I took over from Philip Don a great personality to work with. I made some instant decisions probably the best one was to appoint Matthew Weston to the role of Sports Science. The group met every two weeks at Staverton Park, the referees would spend the three days training in the morning under the management of Matt Weston. In the afternoon we would review refereeing decisions, this is when I introduced Prof Craig Mahoney Sports Psychologist to talk to the referees. That role, although on a part time basis was very valuable to us. I also brought in the late Professor Gayle Stephen’s, a Vision Scientist, who carried out detailed checks on each individual’s eyesight, and reaction times along with peripheral vision exercise. Matt Weston and I introduced the Pre-game procedure:

1. For the first time in refereeing around the world we introduced the coach-ordinated warm up procedure

2. One hour 15 minutes before kick off the Stadium Manager along with the Police Officer in charge would meet and discuss procedures on security issues and if the game had to be delayed or abandoned. These arrangements if activated would ensure spectator safety.

3. One Hour before kick off the Manager along with the Team Captain of both teams enter the referees dressing room for the exchange of team sheets. It’s during that meeting the referee introduces himself and opens up a channel of communication during g the game.

4. At full time the fourth official leaves the playing area and goes to the head of the tunnel to monitor the teams leaving the field and entering their dressing rooms. An action to monitor and prevent any tunnel bust ups.

Introduction of modern technology

I had watched several games of Rugby Union on Television and watched with interest the use of communication. I visited Twickenham and was able to listen into the match referee.

I returned to my office and managed to secure Board Approval for its introduction. We became the first football referees to use the communication system in the world and did so without the IFAB approval. They are now used around the world. Every game was Assessed by a former Referee and after several months having promoted the idea of greater input from the playing and managing side of the game the role of Match Delegate was introduced.

Former players and Managers attend games and review and mark the referee’s performance. I also negotiated a sponsorship deal with Emirates Airlines and we became the first group of Football Referees to be sponsored. Sometime into my role I was sat in the director’s box at Old Trafford. One of our top Referees Mark Clattenburg was in the middle. During the game a snapshot from distance was fumbled by Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll. I could see that has he dropped the ball, it was well over the goal line. Carrol cleared the ball up the field and the goal was not awarded.

A huge avoidable error, sadly although the officials were in the appropriate positions on the field, they were totally exposed and could not judge. Some weeks later I attended the Summer Conference of the Premier League. I gave a review of the performance analysis from ProZone a system that I had introduced at a cost of £100k per season. It was used by several of our top clubs and turned refereeing from perception to reality. I was asked given blue sky thinking what would I introduce to officiating.

I immediately said ‘Goal Line Technology, the meeting approved that I should go ahead and get it. The following week I contacted Dr Paul Hawkins of Hawkeye and the journey began to deliver it to the game. Using the facilities at Motspur Park which was the training ground of Fulham, we had months of trial and error before the criteria for its introduction was achieved. It took several years to get the approval of the law makers, IFAB, and FIFA to get approval. David Dean then a Director of Arsenal, and a founder of the Premier League played a pivotal role in gaining Sepp Blatter’s approval.

The goal by Frank Lampard that was well over the line and not awarded against Germany in the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa, was the catalyst of the change of mind by Blatter. During the development Mike Foster a Director of the League, was instrumental in getting the product into the Premier League. We also required the continued support of Richard Scudamore, the Premier League CEO. It has proven to be a huge success compared to how VAR operates.

Whilst in the role at the PGMOL I was watching other referees across Europe in my role has a Referee Assessor. I also was part of a small committee that UEFA set up to deliver at the Referee’s Convention.

A structure across all the nations of Europe that delivered through a uniform approach the recruitment, retention, education, and development processes. Having reached the age of sixty-five I retired my role with the PGMOL having delivered my business plan to create a cadre of world class referees. I was offered the role of Referee Ambassador at the Premier League, and I spent the next few years delivering referee workshops around the world.

I hope you all enjoyed an insight into my life on and off the field, and what brought me to where I am today.

Keith