Peter Jones (referee) - Career

Career

After appearing as a player in the Leicester City Mutual League, he first took up the whistle himself in a local club match in 1971 after he had seen a friend refereeing. He would then go on to officiate in the North Leicestershire League, Midland Intermediate League (dissolved 1988) and eventually the Southern League.

He was promoted to the Football League list of referees in 1988, and he progressed to the FA Premier League list of referees in 1994. In 1996 Jones became a FIFA referee, where he gained wide international experience.

He was then chosen to handle the Charity Shield match at Wembley on 3 August 1997, between Manchester United and Chelsea, which United won 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 scoreline at 90 minutes. At the end of the same season, he was appointed to control the Football League Cup Final between Chelsea and Middlesbrough on 29 March 1998, also at Wembley, the 'Blues' being victorious by 2 goals to nil (Frank Sinclair and Roberto Di Matteo both scoring in extra time).

On 13 February 1999, Jones was involved in an incident which caused an unprecedented decision to be taken, regarding the ordering of a match to be replayed in its entirety.

He was officiating in the FA Cup fifth round tie involving Arsenal and Sheffield United at Highbury. The score was locked at 1-1 when an away team player was injured, and a team-mate kicked the ball out of play (as is an accepted convention) for a throw-in to Arsenal. Unfortunately, rather than the ball being thrown to a Sheffield United player in the sportsman-like response which is the norm, the ball found its way to Nwankwo Kanu of Arsenal, who passed it to his colleague Marc Overmars. Overmars promptly scored, to make the final result 2-1 to the home side.

Although Jones was unable to disallow the goal for a legitimate reason according to the Laws, the Football Association ordered the game to be replayed (on 23 February 1999, when Arsenal won by an identical scoreline ), to the satisfaction of all parties, including Sepp Blatter of FIFA.

He was also the referee for the competition Final of the same year, where Manchester United defeated Newcastle United 2-0, the goals coming from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes.

In the year 2000, he accepted a Master of Arts, honoris causa (Honorary Graduand), degree from Professor John Dawkins at Loughborough University.

On 19 April 2001, he began to help promote the Scout Survival Skills Badge, in conjunction with a leading sports whistle manufacturer. He is a former Cub Scout himself.

On 27 April 2002, he took charge of his final game on the Premiership referees' list, between Tottenham and Liverpool, which ended 1-0 to 'Spurs' courtesy of a goal by Gus Poyet.

He has been a member of the UEFA Referees Observers Panel since 2002. In the same year, he travelled with other officials to Kabul, Afghanistan, to referee an ISAF team versus an Afghan Representative team, named "Kabul United", on 15 February, after cessation of hostilities.

Since the year 2003, he has officiated in the national six-a-side tournaments called Masters Football, referees for which are FA endorsed. This competition features ex-professional footballers chosen by the PFA, and is televised on Sky TV.

In his working capacity with Leicester City Football Club, he has been involved in the 'Foxes Against Racism' Campaign 2003-2004, and the 'National Literacy Trust' since 2006.