Meet The Ref - Brentford v Latics

The Latics return Championship action on Saturday following the international break, a mouth watering game away at Brentford in the final season for Griffin Park before the Bees move into their new state of the art ground.

The man charged with keeping the game flowing will be Barnsley referee, the aptly named, Darren England.

This is England’s fourth season as a Football League referee, his 7 games so far this campaign four have been in the Championship, 2 in the EFL cup whilst 1was a League One affair.

The 33 year old born and bred Barnsley man does have ‘big game’ experience, indeed his name should be very familiar with Latics supporters, cast your minds back to the 13th April 2013, Wembley Stadium, FA Cup semi-final, he ran the line as the Latics beat Millwall on the road to winning the famous old trophy.

England has been running the line for several seasons in the Premier League, he also ran the line the 2015 FA cup final between Arsenal and Aston Villa and he has experienced Champions League games and international matches, but he decided to swap the flag for the whistle and bowed out running the line in an international friendly between Norway and Sweden.

England says about his decision to become a ref – ‘I will miss being involved in Premier League and international and European games but the aim is to be back there as a referee one day. It’s short-term sacrifice for long-term reward. Being involved in the big games as a referee would be even better than running the line in them.’

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Darren England is also a former academy coach at Barnsley FC, one of his former players there is current Everton defender John Stones, he also worked for Barnsley Community Trust before moving to the Football League Trust where he is employed promoting the National Citizens Service for teenagers.

Darren England last ref’d us back in April 2016 when we beat Southend United 4-1 at the DW Stadium on our way to lifting the League One title.

Darren England Card Watch 2018/19

Games - 7

Yellows – 18

Reds – 0

Brentford v Wigan Athletic
Referee - Darren England
Assistants – Nick Greenhalgh and James Mainwaring
Fourth Official – Craig Hicks

The full interview with Bill the Bee, a cracking listen