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 Wednesday
29 November 2005 (Updated)By Paul Mosley
Steve Bennett, 44 years old from Orpington in Kent, and a FIFA international referee since 2001 (and an Elite UEFA referee since January 2005) takes charge of his 3rd Newcastle game of the season as we head for a Carling Cup tie with Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium. He is not to be confused with fellow Orpingtonian Barry Knight, who has a similarly controversial record in Newcastle matches. Bennett is known among Newcastle fans for controversial refereeing of our games, showing a total of 3 red cards to Newcastle players in his time, one of which was to Jermaine Jenas earlier this season. He has already awarded 5 penalties this season in 10 Premiership matches, and shown 1 other red card, to Birmingham’s Neil Kilkenny for deliberate handball on his own goal-line against Liverpool. This will be his 17th game in charge of United. Bennett’s 1st United game went without controversy, a 2-1 defeat at Birmingham in the League Cup, although clearly he was only saving it up for his 2nd meeting with us. The day after New Year 2001, Bennett left a massive mark on a game at White Hart Lane. Newcastle took an early lead, but Spurs were level when a very dubious penalty was awarded when Speed was adjudged to have fouled Anderton, who levelled from the spot. Two minutes later, the ball was fired at Solano, who was sent off for deliberate handball, and this time Harper saved Anderton’s penalty. With Spurs going 3-1 up, Newcastle hit back just after the break by winning a penalty of their own, this time Neil Sullivan being sent off for Spurs. Dyer dispatched the penalty before foolishly getting himself sent off for foul and abusive language. 10 minutes into the 2nd half. With us now down to 9 men, Spurs confirmed a 4-2 victory late on. Bennett’s next Newcastle game was a rather happier affair, the 4-3 victory over Manchester United in Sir Bobby’s 100th game in charge, even dismissing Roy Keane in the closing minutes for 1st throwing the ball at, then trying to stick the nut on Big Al. He was next on Tyneside just after Christmas to preside over Chelsea’s 2-1 win, although he did nothing particularly irritating. 2002/03, and a season of no real problems! Bennett taking charge of our 2-0 win at Birmingham, a 1-0 win at Villa, a 2-1 win against Spurs at St James’ without any problems. His final Newcastle game of that season was definitely his toughest, the Wear-Tyne derby at the Stadium of Light. His performance was strong though. He awarded us a penalty (correctly) for a foul on Bellamy, disallowed goals for either side, and could easily have dismissed Viana but decided on a very stern public bollocking rather than a 2nd yellow. After taking charge of 4 wins out of 4, Bennett was starting to become acceptable to United fans. For our one and only Premiership trip to Molineux in November 2003, he did nothing to annoy us, except fail to award us what seemed a clear penalty for a handball by ex-Mackem Jody Craddock, and we were held to a 1-1 draw as a result. He was with us again a month later, making the incredibly short trip to Charlton, but had nothing to do. Into 2004/05, and Bennett was given the task of doing our opening day TV clash with Middlesbrough. Bennett denied a penalty appeal for Middlesbrough when a Newcastle defender handled early on, but gave us a penalty of our own when Ameobi was fouled in the final 10 minutes. However, maybe he had been infected by the conjunctivitis which was affecting the Toon squad, for he failed to spot a handball by Hasselbaink, who levelled by punching the ball into the net in the final seconds. He then came north for the Carling Cup tie with Chelsea, and gave the evil Joe Cole an incredible amount of leeway in the Londoners’ 2-0 win. His next trip north was just after Christmas, for the visit of Arsenal. It was a very feisty match, but Bennett lost control of it, and failed to award Newcastle a penalty when Ashley Cole clearly handled the ball (seems to make a habit of missing handballs). He then gave the Arsenal players plenty of warnings when making very rash challenges, but his card was out rather quicker for Steven Taylor. His final Newcastle game of the season was an unremarkable 0-1 defeat at White Hart Lane, where he had no chance to annoy us further. We of course began the 2005/06 season at Highbury against Arsenal, where we saw perhaps Bennett’s most controversial showing to date. The red card for Jenas’ challenge on Gilberto was the major talking point, and whilst correct in law, a red card was incredibly harsh, and Bennett himself downgraded it the very next day, writing to Newcastle to apologise. He did not apologise for his award of a late penalty, after Charles N’Zogbia challenged Freddie Ljungberg which, on 1st viewing, looked a penalty to me, although it did look rather more debatable upon seeing replays. His overall performance was nowhere near as bad as was reported. He then took charge of our 0-0 draw with Portsmouth at Fratton Park on October 1st. Fortunately this time he managed to steer clear of any controversy. I can only find 3 Wigan games Bennett has refereed over the years. A 1-1 draw at Luton in the Nationwide Division 3 (how far they’ve come!), a 3-2 Auto Windscreens Shield Northern Section Final win over Wrexham, and their 1-0 win over our beloved mackem neighbours earlier this season, thanks to a Bennett penalty awarded within the 1st minute. Steve Bennett on his day is a brilliant referee. This season he has already refereed Champions League games in the Nou Camp (Barcelona vs Udinese) and the Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid vs Rosenborg), and internationals in Oslo (Norway vs Moldova) and Paris (France vs Germany). If he is on form, we should have no problems. However, if you’re looking for an omen, Bennett has refereed 2 of our League Cup 4th Round ties in the past, and we have managed to lose them both, one in added time and one in extra time, so don’t leave early!
Wigan vs Newcastle – Refereeing History 05/06 (Premier League) – A trademark Alan Shearer header should have seen Newcastle equalise Jason Roberts’ first-half opener, but assistant referee Andy Williams failed to see the ball cross the line and the goal wasn’t given. Late on in the game Wigan’s Lee McCulloch was sent off for a nasty high cynical challenge on Emre by referee Phil Dowd, but Wigan held on for the win. © Paul Mosley
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