Meet The Ref - Exeter City v Latics

Latics travel down to Devon on Saturday to face Exeter City at St James’ Park in a League One fixture, the referee for the game is scheduled to be Berkshire official, Steve Parkinson.

Steve Parkinson started refereeing in the Bracknell Sunday League as a 16 year old and worked his way up through the ranks of the local leagues, the Welsh Leagues and onto the National League by 2023, making his debut in the EFL in January 2024 with the Crewe v Salford game at Gresty Rd.

Last season Parkinson had 10 EFL league games, including one in League One, Lincoln’s 1:1 home draw with Shrewsbury back in April this year.

Previous Games

Saturday will be Steve Parkinson’s second time in charge of a Latics match this season, he previously officiated our home League One encounter with Peterborough United back in August, we won that comfortably enough with Chris Saydee and Jason Kerr on the score sheet in a 2:0 win, Ryan Trevitt picking up a yellow card. No Exeter games previously

Steve Parkinson’s Latics Game

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
16 Aug 2025	League One	Latics 2:0 Peterborough	1

Steve Parkinson Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 12

Yellows – 47

Reds – 1

Penalties – 3

Exeter City v Wigan Athletic

Referee – Steve Parkinson

Assistants – Marvyn Amphlett & Ryan McIlravey

4^th Official – Isaac Searle

Grab a listen to the latest podcast featuring a preview of the Exeter game.

 

Wigan Athletic FA Cup Record v Non-League Clubs

FA Cup 1st round weekend, the Latics have been drawn a home tie, non-league opposition, National League South club, Hemel Hempstead Town FC are the visitors to the Brick Community Stadium. This will be the 4^th time in five seasons that we have faced a side from outside the EFL.

Since becoming a Football League Club in 1978, Wigan Athletic have been drawn against non-league opposition on 19 occasions prior to this current season. 

Winning 15 ties, 6 via replays, drawing 7 and losing 4 times, 2 of those defeats coming at home, Canvey Island and Chorley.

Of the 4 defeats, all were by the odd goal, three finishing a goal to nil, Telford, Altrincham and Canvey Island, whilst Chorley bran out 2:3 winners.

On the plus side we have put 4 past three sides, Spennymoor Utd and Barrow without reply and Runcorn in a game that ended 4:2 in our favour.

Highest home attendance was 11,298 in a 2nd round replay against Northwich Victoria in 1979. The lowest, 1,804 against Leek Town also in a replay back in 1993. 

The average home attendance across 13 games played at our 'home' stadium is 4,149.

Included in that figure is the tie with Cambridge City in 1999 which was drawn as an away game, but at the request of Cambridge was played at the JJB Stadium. Not included is the Chorley game which took place in 2020 during the covid lockdowns.

Full list of ties in the table below, defeats in red. Attendances for home ties only.

  

Year	Round	Opponent	Score	Replay	Home Attendance
1979	2	Northwich Vic	2:2 (a)	1:0 (h)	11,298
1982	1	Telford Utd	0:0 (h)	1:0 (a)	4,805
1983	2	Whitby Town	1:0 (h)		4,599
1984	2	Northwich Vic	2:1 (h)		5,099
1985	2	Runcorn	1:1 (a)	4:0 (h)	3,390
1987	1	Altrincham	0:2 (a)
1993	1	Leek Town	2:2 (a)	3:0 (h)	1,804
1994	1	Spennymoor Utd	4:0 (h)		2,183
1994	2	Altrincham	1:0 (a)
1995	1	Runcorn	1:1 (a)	4:2 (h)	3,224
1995	2	Barrow	0:4 (a)
1999	1	Cambridge City*	0:2 (a)		4,024 @JJB
2000	1	Dorchester Town	3:1 (h)		3,883
2001	1	Canvey Island	0:1 (h)		3,671
2002	1	Hereford Utd	0:1 (a)
2017	2	AFC Fylde	1:1 (a)	3:2 (h)	3,124
2020	1	Chorley	2:3 (h)		0 - Covid
2021	1	Solihull Moors	0:0 (h)	1:2 (a)	2,843
2023	2	York City	0:1 (a)
2025	1	Hemel Hempstead Town

 

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Podcast which features a preview of our cup tie with Hemel Hempstead Town FC