Meet The Ref - Latics v Man City - Mark Halsey

The Wigan Athletic v Manchester City Premier League clash at the DW Stadium on Wednesday will be refereed by Bolton based official Mark Halsey, it will be the first time since the 2010/11 season that the 51 year old has taken charge of a game involving the Latics.

That season he had three, the opening game of the season against Blackpool at home (0-3), Newcastle away (2-2) and West Ham away (3-1), that was the game where Mauro Boselli missed a penalty.

It is well documented that Halsey suffered from cancer in 2009 and missed the most of the season whilst he underwent treatment, it is great news that he appears to have made a full recovery and his journey can hopefully provide some hope and inspiration to others.

The popular referee is an ex goalkeeper having played for Barnet and Cambridge City, he has been refereeing since retiring from football when he was 31 and he was appointed to the Select Group of ref's in 2001.

Definitely his own man as this snippet from an interview proves:

Who has been the biggest influence in your career and why?

Nobody has influenced my career I have just been myself and not copied anybody.

In your opinion who is/was the best referee?

In my opinion I don't watch and rate other referees I just love football. It's all about the game of football not referees.

Fantastic responses and if only all ref's had the same ethos

Mark Halsey Card Watch 2012/13,br>
Games -
Yellows -
Reds -

Wigan Athletic v Manchester City

Referee: Mark Halsey
Assistants: L Betts, M McDonough
Fourth official: M Dean.

















Latics and Proud



Fancy writing an article about the Latics? Why not get in touch, we are always looking for new contributors, after all we are all Latics fans here and want to get the Latics message to the world, so if you have a favourite match or Latics memory get it jotted down, or whatever you want to say put it into an email and send it to us here at Vital Wigan

To get your article published just click here and we will put it onto the site

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.