Dermot Gallagher refereed more than 1,200 professional games over a 22-year career and is the only Irishman ever to take the whistle at the highest level in England, overseeing games in the old Football League from 1990 to '92 and in the Premier League from 1992 up to 2007.
He was also on the international Fifa list from 1994 to 2002. The 59-year-old Ringsend native is a regular contributor to Sky Sports News and a popular and active public speaker. Brendan Crossan caught up with him to discuss the highs and lows of his time in the middle...
BC: What was the proudest moment in your refereeing career?
DG: I did the 1995 U20 World Cup final in Qatar between Argentina and Brazil, the Brazilian Cup final between Palmeiras and Sao Paolo in Sao Paolo, I did the FA Cup final in ’96 [Manchester United v Liverpool]. But the greatest moment of my life actually occurred before a game.
I shook hands with Nelson Mandela and Mandela called me Dermot. That was awesome. It was a game between South Africa and Germany for the Mandela Cup. It was the greatest, proudest moment of my life.
BC: Do you think 50 is too young for referees to retire?
DG: No, I believe human beings are like cars. I’m 59 now and I run in the gym most days. But when I got to 50, the biggest thing for me was travelling back after matches. You could have sent me to Inverness and I would have driven up there so excited but, at the end of the match, I just wanted to be back home because of the tiredness I felt after the match. I couldn’t stand the travelling back any more.
I also got to the stage where I wasn’t as sharp as I was any more. I was still as fit and could still run in straight lines, but I didn’t have that bit of agility that you need to twist and turn. My match fitness was just that little bit off compared to my peak years.
I thought my race was run at the top level and I didn’t want to drop down a division. I made that decision and I haven’t regretted it for one second.
BC: What was your last pro game you refereed?
DG: Liverpool versus Charlton, May 13 2007. It was important that I knew that was going to be my last game. There wasn’t going to be a Frank Sinatra comeback.
BC: Were you sad to finish?
DG: Yes, I drove home and we had a big party that night. Two days later, I packed everything away and that was it. That journey was over and another one started.
BC: How did you deal with the void in the initial stages of retirement?
DG: That was probably the most difficult period of my life, to be honest. I couldn’t believe how much free time I had. I took up golf and started to coach a few of the younger lads and that’s been very, very fulfilling.
I enjoy the Sky Sports gig too. It’s become more enjoyable through time. As a boy, I always thought I wouldn’t be involved in football after the age of 30. Being involved in football every day is an absolute dream and I feel very lucky.
BC: You suffered a ruptured Achilles injury during Euro ’96 - a group game between France and Bulgaria - which threatened to end your career. Was that the lowest point in your career?
DG: I refereed 1,200 pro games in my career and I can remember every one of them vividly. If I could change the one thing in my life, I would never allow the game between Man United and Coventry played on Easter Saturday 1996 to go ahead when David Busst broke his leg. I came through the amateur ranks with David and he played in that game.
After 81 seconds, he suffered the most horrific leg break I’ve ever seen. If I could change one day in my life, it would be that day. That day wouldn’t occur.
BC: What’s the most enjoyable part of refereeing?
DG: At the end of the game, knowing that you did something special, that you aided 22 players to have a great day and for all the people watching. I refereed an U9s game recently. When the whistle blows, that game is the most important thing to them in the world.
BC: During games, could you reflect and admire some of the players that you refereed?
DG: Yes. Gianfranco Zola was the perfect gentleman, on and off the field. He was just a little genius on the field. I remember refereeing the Champions League semi-final in 1996 between Juventus and Nantes. Alessandro Del Piero smashed the ball across the field and it went by me about shoulder height and it went to Zinedine Zidane.
I was thinking: ‘Good luck with trying to control that ball’, and he just put his foot up, cushioned the ball down and laid it off to Antonio Conte. I just went: ‘Wow’. I could not believe a player could do that in a football match.
Zidane’s skill levels were just unbelievable.
BC: What is the key to good refereeing?
DG: To referee at the level the players are at.
BC: If you could make a change to the rulebook, what would it be?
DG: I’d make two changes: I would make it compulsory when the ball is out of play for a throw-in, the player closest to the play picks it up and takes the throw-in. It drives me potty all the time-wasting that goes on.
And the other one I’d introduce is, when the 90 minutes are up, I would have an embargo on substitutions in stoppage-time. It’s always the team that’s winning that make the substitutions. The design is to delay the game.
The caveat I would have is, if a manager said his player was injured, he would not be allowed to play for the next two weeks.
BC: Who gave you the most earache?
DG: Every player who felt they were hard done by. Even the nicest person in the world can have a go at you. The game is so emotional, isn’t it? I’m like that when I play hockey.
BC: What do you miss about your refereeing career?
DG: Training camp. Going there for two or three days and being out with my mates and testing yourself against the best. I loved running the legs off my mate Alan Wiley.
BC: Do you like the new rules drafted in for the new season?
DG: Yes, the holding in the penalty box is not as bad. Somebody said to me the other day: ‘The referees have backed off and aren’t giving so many penalties’. And I said: ‘Do you not think the players have backed off and stopped doing it?’
BC: Who do you support?
DG: Celtic.
Dermot Gallagher will be in Newry City FC on Friday for a talk night (8pm), with a limited number of tickets available. He will recall his clashes with Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Roy Keane and the rest and will intersperse it with unscheduled forays into the audience for some interaction…
For ticket information contact: Gary Wilson (07745 112320), Laura Hillen (07857 077176).
