Pawson back at the Turf after more than three years
Craig Pawson will referee our Premier League game against Arsenal tomorrow and although he refereed three of our top flight games two seasons again, against Swansea, Arsenal and Tottenham, they were all away from home meaning this will be his first Premier League visit to Turf Moor as referee and his first Burnley home game since the 1-1 draw against Blackburn in August 2013.
He’s refereed ten Burnley games in total and there has been plenty of controversy in them although on a couple of occasions fingers could point at one of his assistants. In his first Burnley game, against Burton in the League Cup, he turned things in our favour with a poor penalty decision and just a few months later he was the man in the middle when two Brighton players, the second of them Ashley Barnes, were sent off in the opening stages of our 1-0 win there.
His first league visit to the Turf saw him allow a Burnley goal against Millwall and then, after a long chat with his assistant, rule it out for offside with Millwall just about to restart the game from the centre spot; this when the assistant had not flagged.
Since, there have been few problems to be fair. His last Burnley game saw him return to Brighton when, in general, he refereed a tough game well. He was let down that day by his assistant who decided Michael Keane’s header from a corner late in the day had not crossed the line.
The Sheffield based referee has been refereeing since his teens and joined the Football League list in 2008 before becoming a select group official in 2013. Two years later he won a place on the Fifa International Referees list which means he is now able to referee both Champions League and Europa League fixtures as well as internationals.
His first ever Football League game was a 0-0 League Two draw between Grimsby and Rochdale with his first Premier League game coming at Swansea who beat Newcastle 1-0 in March 2013. A couple of seasons ago he built up a reputation as a red card ref but there were only three last season and in five games so far this season there has been just one alongside 19 yellow cards.
Four of those yellow cards came in the Community Shield at Wembley but of the other 15, eight have gone to home team players and seven to away team players. The player he red carded was Bournemouth’s Harry Arter in their 1-0 defeat at West Ham.
In his last game, Crystal Palace v Stoke two weeks ago, he yellow carded James McArthur and Jason Puncheon of Palace and Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic.
Craig Pawson is 11th in RATE THE REF with a rating of 62.72 out of 100.
The assistant referees are A Holmes and Scott Ledger. The fourth official is Lee Mason who refereed our 2-0 win against Liverpool in August.
Previous Burnley Games – Craig Pawson
| Season | Opponents | V | Res | Y | R | Burnley Players Carded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011/12 | Burton | h | 6-3 | 4 | 0 | Y: Grant, Elliott |
| 2011/12 | Brighton | a | 1-0 | 3 | 2 | Y: Edgar, Paterson |
| 2012/13 | Millwall | h | 2-2 | 8 | 0 | Y: Marney, Mee, Wallace, Vokes |
| 2013/14 | Blackburn | h | 1-1 | 4 | 1 | Y: Marney, Duff, Mee |
| 2014/15 | Swansea | a | 0-1 | 3 | 0 | Y: Duff |
| 2014/15 | Arsenal | a | 0-3 | 1 | 0 | Y: Boyd |
| 2014/15 | Tottenham | a | 2-4 | 3 | 0 | Y: Keane, Arfield |
| 2015/16 | Brighton | a | 2-2 | 1 | 0 |
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