Phil Dowd
Football referee
title: "Phil Dowd" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["english-football-referees", "sportspeople-from-stoke-on-trent", "1963-births", "living-people", "fa-cup-final-referees", "english-football-league-referees", "premier-league-referees"] description: "Football referee" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Dowd" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Football referee ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox football official"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | Phil Dowd Middlesbrough v. Chelsea 1.png |
| image_size | 175 |
| name | Phil Dowd |
| fullname | Philip Dowd |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Leek, Staffordshire, England |
| years1 | ? – ? |
| league1 | Staffordshire Senior League |
| role1 | Referee |
| years2 | ? – ? |
| league2 | Midland Football Alliance |
| role2 | Referee |
| years3 | 1992–1997 |
| league3 | Football League |
| role3 | Assistant referee |
| years4 | 1997–2001 |
| league4 | Football League |
| role4 | Referee |
| years5 | 2001–2016 |
| league5 | Premier League |
| role5 | Referee |
| :: |
| image = Phil Dowd Middlesbrough v. Chelsea 1.png | image_size = 175 | name = Phil Dowd | fullname = Philip Dowd | birth_date = | birth_place = Leek, Staffordshire, England | death_date = | death_place = | otheroccupation = | years1 = ? – ? | league1 = Staffordshire Senior League | role1 = Referee | years2 = ? – ? | league2 = Midland Football Alliance | role2 = Referee | years3 = 1992–1997 | league3 = Football League | role3 = Assistant referee | years4 = 1997–2001 | league4 = Football League | role4 = Referee | years5 = 2001–2016 | league5 = Premier League | role5 = Referee Philip Dowd (born 26 January 1963) is a retired English professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League. He is based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and was a member of the Staffordshire Football Association.
Dowd made his first appearance as an official in the Football League as an assistant referee in 1992. Since he was promoted to the list of Select Group Referees in 2001 he has refereed a number of notable matches, including the finals of the FA Cup, in 2012, and the Football League Cup, in 2010, as well as the FA Community Shield in 2011.
Career
Dowd began refereeing in local leagues in 1984, eventually officiating in the Staffordshire Senior League and Midland Football Alliance. He was appointed to The Football League list of assistant referees in 1992, before joining the League's full list of referees in 1997, aged 34.
He was promoted to the Premier League list in 2001, his first match being a fixture between Fulham and Everton in December of that year. The 2014–15 season in English football was his fifteenth year refereeing in the top flight of English football.
In 2006, Dowd was the fourth official at that year's FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
In 2009, Dowd gave Manchester United star Wayne Rooney a second yellow and sent him off for throwing the ball at Dowd out of anger.
On 5 February 2011, Dowd was appointed to a Premier League fixture between Newcastle United and Arsenal, notable for becoming the first game in the league's history in which a team recovered from being 4-0 down to salvage a draw. Dowd issued a 50th-minute red card to Arsenal's Abou Diaby for violent conduct towards two Newcastle players following a challenge with Joey Barton.
On 26 December 2011 Wigan Athletic's Conor Sammon was sent off by Dowd during his team's 5–0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Wigan appealed the decision and the Football Association rescinded the red card three days later.
After missing the whole of the 2015–16 season due to injury the PGMOL announced Phil Dowd had retired.
Notable matches
2010 League Cup Final
|date=28 February 2010
|time=15:00 GMT
|team1=Aston Villa
|score=1–2
|report=Report
|team2=Manchester United
|goals1=Milner
Collins
Downing
|goals2=Owen
Rooney
Evra
Vidić
|stadium=Wembley Stadium, London
|attendance=88,596
On 28 February 2010 Dowd refereed the League Cup final between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium. In the fifth minute of the match, Dowd deemed Manchester United's Nemanja Vidić to have fouled Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor in the penalty area. Whilst Dowd did award Villa a penalty kick, he elected not to punish Vidić; some commentators felt the offence qualified as a professional foul and therefore warranted a red card. United overturned Villa's early penalty to ultimately win the match, and trophy, 2–1.
2011 FA Community Shield
|date=7 August 2011 |time=14:30 BST |team1=Manchester City |score=2–3 |report=Report |team2=Manchester United |goals1=Lescott Džeko Džeko Richards Y. Touré Milner Kolarov |goals2=Smalling Nani Anderson Evra |stadium=Wembley Stadium, London |attendance=77,169 |referee=
Dowd officiated the 2011 FA Community Shield on 7 August 2011 between Manchester City and Manchester United, also the 160th Manchester derby, at London's Wembley Stadium. United won the match 3–2 with a last-minute winner courtesy of Nani. Dowd issued seven yellow cards during the course of the game.
2012 FA Cup Final
| date = 5 May 2012
| time = 17:15 BST
| team1 = Chelsea
| score = 2–1
| report = Report
| team2 = Liverpool
| goals1 = Ramires
Drogba
Mikel
| goals2 = Carroll
Agger
Suárez
| stadium = Wembley Stadium, London
| attendance = 89,102
Dowd refereed the 2012 FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Liverpool, at Wembley Stadium on 5 May 2012. He was assisted by Stuart Burt and Andrew Garratt and Mike Jones was the fourth official. Dowd described his appointment to the Cup final as an "honour and privilege". The fixture took place on the third anniversary of the death of his father, whom Dowd said had always hoped to see his son referee a final of the FA Cup.
Card statistics
::data[format=table]
| Season | Games | Total | per game | Total | per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998/99 | 32 | 125 | 3.91 | 3 | 0.09 |
| 1999/00 | 33 | 85 | 2.58 | 4 | 0.12 |
| 2000/01 | 33 | 120 | 3.64 | 10 | 0.30 |
| 2001/02 | 29 | 109 | 3.76 | 13 | 0.45 |
| 2002/03 | 38 | 130 | 3.42 | 8 | 0.21 |
| 2003/04 | 28 | 104 | 3.71 | 6 | 0.21 |
| 2004/05 | 36 | 115 | 3.19 | 7 | 0.19 |
| 2005/06 | 46 | 183 | 3.98 | 8 | 0.17 |
| 2006/07 | 33 | 99 | 3.00 | 3 | 0.09 |
| 2007/08 | 41 | 113 | 2.75 | 10 | 0.24 |
| 2008/09 | 45 | 148 | 3.28 | 11 | 0.24 |
| 2009/10 | 39 | 135 | 3.46 | 5 | 0.13 |
| 2010/11 | 38 | 139 | 3.66 | 12 | 0.32 |
| 2011/12 | 38 | 137 | 3.61 | 5 | 0.13 |
| 2012/13 | 38 | 130 | 3.42 | 5 | 0.13 |
| :: |
Statistics for all competitions. No records are available prior to 1998/99.
References
References
- [http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0,,10794~628215,00.html Profile] {{webarchive. link. (15 January 2008 : The [[Football League]] Official website.)
- [https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4842512.stm] match report: [[BBC. BBC.co.uk]] website.
- (21 March 2009). "Ferguson angry at Rooney red card".
- (5 February 2011). "Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal".
- Hayward, Paul. (6 February 2011). "Joey Barton's maverick inspiration proves just what Newcastle need". The Guardian.
- Wilson, Paul. (5 February 2011). "Cheik Tioté completes remarkable Newcastle comeback against Arsenal". The Guardian.
- (5 February 2011). "Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal". BBC News.
- (29 December 2011). "Wigan Athletic win appeal over Conor Sammon red card". BBC News.
- McNulty, Phil. (28 February 2010). "Aston Villa 1–2 Man Utd". BBC.
- (17 April 2012). "Phil Dowd to referee FA Cup final". The Daily Telegraph.
- "Phil Dowd | Latest Football Betting Odds | Soccer Base".
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