| Full name | Keith Stuart Hackett | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1944-06-22)22 June 1944 (age 81) Sheffield, West Yorkshire, England | ||
| Other occupation | General manager | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| –1975 | Northern Premier League | Referee | |
| 1972–1976 | Football League | Linesman | |
| 1975–1976 | (Supplementary List) | Referee | |
| 1976–1992 | Football League | Referee | |
| 1992–1994 | Premier League | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1981–1991 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
Keith Stuart Hackett (born 22 June 1944[1]) is an English formerfootballreferee, who began refereeing in local leagues in theSheffield, South Yorkshire area in 1960.[2] He is counted amongst the top 100 referees of all time in a list maintained by theInternational Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).[3]
Keith is currently the president of non-league club Penistone Church FC.[1]
He reached theNorthern Premier League and became aFootball Leaguelinesman in 1972. Three years later he advanced to the Supplementary List of referees and one year later in 1976 to the full List at the age of only thirty two. He made progress and in 1979 was senior linesman toRon Challis in theFA Cup Final. The next season, he took charge of anFA Cupsemi-final betweenArsenal andLiverpool. The match required a replay, which he also handled, but that ended all-square as well, and two further replays were required to separate the teams.
The following season saw him step up to the ultimate domestic honour of the1981 FA Cup Final atWembley, finishing 1–1 betweenSpurs andManchester City. Aged only thirty six at the time, he was one of the youngest Cup Final referees.[citation needed]Tommy Hutchison of City scored both goals, causing the game to go to a replay, which Hackett also refereed at Wembley, the game ending 3–2 to Tottenham.[4] He was then appointed to theFIFA List for the following season of1981–82.
He was then appointed to the 1984Charity Shield match, in whichEverton defeatedLiverpool 1–0, courtesy of aBruce Grobbelaar own goal. In 1986, he refereed theLeague Cup Final, whereOxford United beatQPR 3–0, thus winning their only knockout trophy.
Internationally, he was a match official at the1988 European Championships, in which he took control ofWest Germany's 1–1 draw withItaly in Group A on 10 June at theRheinstadion.[citation needed]
Hackett also officiated at the1988 Olympic Football Tournament, handling the semi-final betweenBrazil and West Germany, which Brazil won onpenalties following a 1–1 scoreline afterextra time.
He refereed the 1990–91 league encounter betweenManchester United andArsenal atOld Trafford, a match notorious for the21-man brawl breaking out just after the hour mark. The melee resulted in Arsenal being docked two points and Manchester United one byThe Football Association, upon a three-hour consultation with Hackett and his match officials.
He continued to be one of the senior English referees, even after his retirement on age grounds from the FIFA List at the end of 1991. Although he reached the English retirement age at the end of the1991–92 season, he was granted an extension and was one of the first set ofPremier League referees for its inaugural1992–93 campaign. He was granted another extra season on top of this before retiring just short of his 50th birthday in 1994.
He later worked as a referees' assessor before, on 1 March 2004, he was appointed general manager of theProfessional Game Match Officials Board, replacingPhilip Don.
Hackett has also worked to promote knowledge of refereeing via several publications. He published his own book,Hackett's Law; a Referee's Notebook![5] in 1986.[6] And he continued to provide the answers for cult classic cartoon quizYou Are The Ref, drawn by sports artistPaul Trevillion, which he has done since the 1970s - originally forShoot magazine, and then forThe Observer newspaper.[7] He co-authored a book with Trevillion celebrating 50 years of the strip in December 2006.[8] And from August 2008,The Observer's collection ofYou Are The Ref strips appeared online at guardian.co.uk.[9]
In early 2007, Hackett also produced a DVD-ROM with Trevillion calledReferee Academy, for use in the training of match officials, withsanction from theFA,the Football League and thePremier League.[10] During the2007–08 season, he also wrote a regular column in the matchday programme forCrystal Palace and now writes for various football news websites about refereeing decisions.[11][12]
| Preceded by | FA Cup Final Referee 1981 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
