Mick
Life President
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- Oct 28, 2003
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Friday’s match against Southampton will be refereed by 44 year old Grant Hegley from Hertfordshire. An experienced official, this will be his 13th competitive match at Roots Hall (won 8, drawn 1, lost 3) He has still not yet refereed a Southend away League game although he officiated in the 2-0 LDV win at Northampton. His most recent League appearances were last season against Orient and, as a late replacement, against Crewe which in my opinion went okay.
He is a regular official for home friendlies, the most recent of which was his handling of the Fulham game last season.
He has a somewhat laissez faire style to his refereeing, resulting in far less than average cards. He has only sent off three players in nearly four years. Over half of his matches this season have been cardless (6 out of 11) and his last 8 matches have produced just 4 yellow cards [to put this in perspective Keith Hill hasn't had a cardless match for two and a half years and his 2 matches since he graced the Hall a fortnight ago have produced 3 reds and 6 yellows].
His approach is probably because he's never going to make it to the top, he earns a good living from the legal profession and refereeing is genuinely a hobby to him.
He hit the headlines three seasons ago when he was suspended for too lenient refereeing. Shortly after that he showed ten yellow cards in a game twice. I’m sure the assessors must have been much happier with that. Thankfully, he has long since reverted back to his original style.
Despite this approach he seems to be back in favour with those in power as a good number of his appointments are at Championship level.
Assisting Mr Hegley will be Marvin Thompson from Middlesex and Gary Young from Bedfordshire with, somewhat perversely, 4th official duties being undertaken by John Hopkins from Wickford. John was a regular Sunday morning referee in Southend some years back.
He is a regular official for home friendlies, the most recent of which was his handling of the Fulham game last season.
He has a somewhat laissez faire style to his refereeing, resulting in far less than average cards. He has only sent off three players in nearly four years. Over half of his matches this season have been cardless (6 out of 11) and his last 8 matches have produced just 4 yellow cards [to put this in perspective Keith Hill hasn't had a cardless match for two and a half years and his 2 matches since he graced the Hall a fortnight ago have produced 3 reds and 6 yellows].
His approach is probably because he's never going to make it to the top, he earns a good living from the legal profession and refereeing is genuinely a hobby to him.
He hit the headlines three seasons ago when he was suspended for too lenient refereeing. Shortly after that he showed ten yellow cards in a game twice. I’m sure the assessors must have been much happier with that. Thankfully, he has long since reverted back to his original style.
Despite this approach he seems to be back in favour with those in power as a good number of his appointments are at Championship level.
Assisting Mr Hegley will be Marvin Thompson from Middlesex and Gary Young from Bedfordshire with, somewhat perversely, 4th official duties being undertaken by John Hopkins from Wickford. John was a regular Sunday morning referee in Southend some years back.
