Tuesday nights Championship clash between Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic will be refereed by West Yorkshire based official Robert Madley, the Wakefield whistleblower is commonly known as ‘Bobby’, it will be his first game of the season.
At just 28, Madley is one of the youngest ref’s on the circuit, he acted as an assistant in the Premier League between 2009 and 2010 before branching out to take charge of his first Football League game on 27th August 2011, he officiated at Deepdale when Preston beat Notts County 2-0 in a League One game.
Last season Bobby was promoted to the Select Group and became a fully fledged Premier League ref, making a rapid rise through the ranks he officiated five top flight games in the 2013/14 season, though he ended the campaign in the bottom tier with a League 2 encounter between Burton and Chesterfield.
Madley has taken charge of just one Latics game previously, our FA cup 3rd round tie with Bournemouth in January 2013 as we embarked on our historic run, though his brother Andy, who is also a ref took control of our game down at Watford last season.
In a recent interview Bobby explained how he got into refereeing:
How did you get in to Refereeing?
I had played for a Championship team’s School of Excellence and didn’t quite make the grade. I returned to playing for my local junior team, Ossett Town, but had become a little disillusioned with the game.
‘I was advised to take the referees course which I did, along with my brother Andy who came to keep me company. I was 16 when I took the course and at 23 I was promoted onto the Premier League as an Assistant Referee.
‘Andy was promoted onto Premier League list as an Assistant Referee a year later. I think we would both agree that taking the course was one of the best decisions we have ever made.’
Bobby Madley Card Watch 2013/14
Games – 26
Yellows – 90
Reds – 10
Cardiff City v Wigan Athletic
Referee – ROBERT MADLEY
Assistants – John Brooks and Simon Long
Fourth Official – Dean Whitestone
Bobby Madley not to be confused with his brother Andy, or TV’s Richard
Latics fans – please support the walk4tilly
Saturday 11th October, DW Stadium to Haigh Hall and back to the DW, in aid of Alder Hey Children’s Charity
Who is Tilly? My granddaughter that’s who and it’s thanks to Alder Hey that she, and many other local kids are running around today, help us to give something back.
For more info and to register please email walk4tilly@hotmail.com or take a look here
Check out the latest PWU podcast
In the studio at the Beech Hill Book Cycle are Barry, Gareth, Rob and Dan.
The gang have a lot to chat about from under par performances, players debuts and looking ahead to two big games.
The podcast can be listened to by clicking the embedded player below or downloaded to listen at you leisure by visiting www.buzzsprout.com
