Trailblazing referee Uriah Rennie dies aged 65
Uriah Rennie, the first black Premier League referee, has died at the age of 65.
The Jamaica-born official grew up in Sheffield and oversaw more than 300 top-flight matches starting with his breakthrough appointment as Derby hosted Wimbledon in August 1997.
Advertisement
The Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association posted on X: 'We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our former chair and trailblazing referee, Uriah Rennie.
'Uriah made history as the Premier League's first black referee, officiating over 300 top-flight matches between 1997 and 2008. He broke down barriers, shaped our football community and inspired generations to come.
'Our thoughts are with Uriah's family and friends at this difficult time.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
🗞️ Perisic to Barça? Huijsen, Joan García...on the front pages
The transfer market once again takes center stage on the front pages of the sports press today. Huijsen, presented yesterday in Madrid, Joan García, Perisic, Mosquera, Lomónaco, or Gattuso are some of the notable names. Marca As Sport Mundo Deportivo Superdeporte Estadio Deportivo Gazzetta dello Sport L'Equipe This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here. 📸 ISABELLA BONOTTO - AFP or licensors
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How Brian Ashton led Bath to double in 1995-96 while teaching full-time
It doesn't take long to realise that one of England's greatest attacking minds is still as sharp as ever. Asked what is keeping him busy at the moment, Brian Ashton, now 78, shoots back: 'Staying alive.' There are many ways to emphasise how long it has been since Bath won the title but a two-word riposte from the man who led them to the league and cup double in 1995-96 does it better than most. It is well documented that the dawn of professionalism was not kind to Bath, how it both enabled their rivals to catch up and derailed the country's dominant side in the following years. As the former full-back Jon Callard has put it: 'Bath got lost in professionalism, sometimes players forgot the value of the shirt.' In the final throes of the amateur era, however, Bath were the trailblazers. Advertisement Related: The Breakdown | Are you not entertained? Thrilling club finales show tribal rugby at its best Their 1995-96 campaign is a remarkable thing written down – record points (575) and tries scored (68) in 18 matches – but listen to Ashton reflect on a season when they finished a point ahead of Leicester in the table, before edging past them at Twickenham a week later, and the legend comes to life. Perhaps the best place to start is at the end, the final day of the league season when Bath hosted Sale knowing that with victory they would get their hands back on the title they had won in four of the preceding five years. Romping to a 32-12 half‑time lead, Bath had one hand and four fingers on the trophy. Forty minutes later Sale were level at 38-38 thanks to a last-gasp try from Chris Yates, converted by Rob Liley. As a result, a Leicester win against Harlequins would ensure the Tigers retained the title but behind 19-21 and with a late penalty for victory, John Liley, Rob's brother, was off target. Bath had squeaked home. 'Well, the Liley brothers couldn't have it all their own way, could they?' says Ashton. 'It would have been an interesting conversation between them later on, though. Advertisement 'There was a feeling of relief but also of genuine excitement. I've read that we scored a ridiculous number of tries in the second half of the season. We felt like we had gone a pretty long way to fulfilling what we had set out to do. Because of the way we pursued that we probably had a couple of blips along the way that we might have avoided if we had been a bit more pragmatic but, when you look at the players who were playing, pragmatism doesn't sit easily alongside that back division. And neither should it.' Ashton waxes lyrical about the backs. Tony Swift was recently retired but joining Callard in the back three was Adedayo Adebayo, Jon Sleightholme and Audley Lumsden. Scotland's scrum-half Andy Nicol was enjoying his first season with the club after overcoming a knee injury and Mike Catt, the England full-back, was given the keys to No 10. 'Catty could play anywhere across the back line,' Ashton says but when describing his centres, Phil de Glanville, the captain, and Jeremy Guscott, he really starts to purr. 'From a personal point of view, it was nice to have a captain in Phil who was playing in midfield,' Ashton says. 'My mindset was that we might need someone with more of a panoramic vision of what was going on than some of the forwards might have. And Jerry could do things that other players couldn't do and make it look so easy.' The forwards packed a punch, too. A back row featuring Andy Robinson, Steve Ojomoh and Ben Clarke was formidable while Kevin Yates and Victor Ubogu, packing down either side of Graham Dawe, ensured Gareth Chilcott's retirement was dealt with seamlessly. In the second row Martin Haag and Nigel Redman were the piano-shifters while Ashton's beloved backs played such memorable tunes. Advertisement Even at the fag-end of amateurism, perhaps even because of it, the players were empowered. Ashton missed around 10 matches across the season because he was still teaching at King's Bruton school in Somerset. 'Still had to earn a living,' he says, adding: 'It fitted in perfectly with my player-led coaching purpose!' Ashton recalls the determination to implement a swashbuckling style that season as evolution rather than revolution, designed to suit the players at his disposal. And he knew he was on to a good thing after beginning pre-season with a 62-19 victory over Garryowen. It set the tone for a ferociously fast start to the league season. Away victories against Leicester, Wasps and Harlequins led the Bristol Evening Post to declare the title race was 'all but killed off' while, after a 50-point hiding at the Rec, Bristol's Kyran Bracken was effusive. 'They were just out of this world,' he said. 'Bath are playing the sort of rugby the All Blacks have been playing.' That the title race did ultimately go down the wire is testament to the tenacity of the Tigers, who exacted revenge on Bath for their home defeat by edging home at the Rec – and a defeat against West Country rivals Gloucester. Ashton acknowledges that his insistence on playing a certain way was no doubt to blame, but stands by his decision. The irony is that the victory with which Bath completed the double was one of the more forgettable performances of the season. It took a penalty try to clinch a 16-15 cup victory at Twickenham – a sell-out crowd will be hoping for more of a spectacle on Saturday – in an ill-tempered match in which Neil Back, in particular, lost his cool at full time. Advertisement 'Bath and Leicester were the two sides pushing to win trophies but bizarrely – and the final was like this – they weren't great games to watch, Ashton says. 'If you want a close scoreline of course they were but if you want to sit back and enjoy what I would call proper rugby, they weren't.' If Bath needed bringing back down to earth it came just a week or later when locking horns with Wigan in the Clash of the Codes. A game of league at Maine Road was followed by a match of union at Twickenham. It was a Wigan side boasting Martin Offiah, Jason Robinson, Shaun Edwards, Andy Farrell, Henry Paul and Va'aiga Tuigamala and they racked up a thumping 82-6 win in Manchester. 'I was a Wigan fan so I knew what was coming,' remembers Ashton, before revenge was exacted at Twickenham. Dynasties have risen and fallen since then. Some you can see coming a mile off – Saracens' emergence felt inevitable such was the quality littered among their class of 2008 but so too their dethroning when Owen Farrell et al all moved on. Ashton, however, does not feel like Bath's slide was obvious at the time. 'I look at a photo of the side who won the cup and there were some great players. It's probably been well chronicled that the changeover from amateur to professional was not handled by Bath as well as it was by some of the other teams. I left halfway through the season because I found it quite difficult, but there's a lot of water under the bridge now.'
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
England navigate elite demands in bid to retain European Under-21 crown
It summed up the lot of an England Under-21s manager when Liam Delap confirmed he would compete for his new club, Chelsea, this summer rather than join his international teammates in Slovakia. The Club World Cup has provided a fresh headache for Lee Carsley, a further example of the barrelling dominance with which elite club football overcomes its alternatives. Something special may be required over the next two and a half weeks if his team are going to make any impression on the public consciousness. Fortunately, England and Carsley have a record of producing exactly that. They kick off their Uefa Under-21 Championship campaign as the title holders and, if anyone needs enthusing, a look back at their win against Spain in the final two years ago should have the right effect. James Trafford's last‑minute penalty save in Batumi was a genuinely thrilling moment that broke 39 years of underachievement on this stage and did no harm to the careers of a squad packed with recognisable names. Advertisement This time Carsley accepts he must 'be creative with our team selection', although in truth it was ever thus given the varying demands of clubs and senior call-ups. Jobe Bellingham's move to Borussia Dortmund could mean a further key player ups sticks for Gianni Infantino's pet project. Jamie Gittens and Rico Lewis are among others who will be turning their attention to the US, while Adam Wharton and Jaden Philogene are recovering from injuries and will not be available. At least James McAtee has opted to join the national team. The Manchester City midfielder will captain England when they open against Czech Republic in Dunajska Streda on Thursday. This tournament still represents a clear shop window for a player who appears likely to leave City. The class of 2023 have largely thrived since carrying away the trophy: a squad including Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Morgan Gibbs‑White, Curtis Jones, Levi Colwill and Trafford, a target for Newcastle, was always going to be a serious proposition. Now the task is to make hay with a much-changed group. Only Harvey Elliott and Charlie Cresswell, the Toulouse defender, remain from those heroics in Georgia. But England are hardly short of options in most departments, even if without Delap their only specialist centre-forward is Jay Stansfield. The prospect of Ethan Nwaneri, who made his bow in the goal-laden March fixtures against France and Portugal, getting a concerted run this month is mouthwatering. Omari Hutchinson had a much better season at doomed Ipswich than some of the statistics suggest and may sense his own platform to greater things. Elliot Anderson and Archie Gray are among others who have grown hugely in stature over the past 12 months. Perhaps it will help that, for all the upheaval, six of Carsley's selection have happy memories of a Slovakian summer. England Under‑19s won their age-group title in 2022 by defeating Israel in Trnava; this time they are aiming for a final in Bratislava's 22,500-capacity Tehelne pole, the national stadium, which held Champions League matches involving the local side Slovan earlier this season. Advertisement Slovakia last hosted an under-21 championship in 2000 and there is no doubting the public's appetite. While Tehelne pole was less than half full for the final back then, the showpiece this year is among seven matches that have been sold out. Almost 220,000 tickets have been sold for the 31 games, meaning Uefa can hail a pre‑tournament record. Many of those fans will pour over the border from the Czech Republic, while there has also been notable uptake from Finland, who have progressed this far for the first time since 2009. Assuming England, who have lost only twice in 15 games since becoming champions, master a lively environment against the Czechs they will be set fair to progress from Group B. Slovenia should be dealt with on Sunday but a highly favoured Germany, who include Brighton's Brajan Gruda and the highly sought Stuttgart forward Nick Woltemade, will present an early test of their credentials three days later. Qualifying for the quarter-finals in second place would probably mean an inconveniently early reunion with Spain. France and Portugal, paired together in Group C, appear characteristically strong. An open Group D includes a welcome appearance from Ukraine, whose striker Vladyslav Vanat will be watched closely, and the Netherlands side coached by Michael Reiziger that may possess dark-horse qualities. It may be Spain who lay down an early marker when they set the competition in motion against Slovakia on Wednesday evening. If that becomes broadly lost in the Club World Cup hubbub, England hope to seize the narrative when it really matters on 28 June.
