Gary S. Willard (3 September 1959 – 19th May 2024) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

. He officiated in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

and the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, and for

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. He came from

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

.Town of residence
and activities after retirement:

The Argus (Brighton) ''The Argus'' is a local newspaper based in Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England, with editions serving the city of Brighton and Hove and the other parts of both East Sussex and West Sussex. The newspaper covers local news, politics and ...

website. He maintained an involvement in top-class football after retiring in 2000.Fitness problems
in 1999, and activities after retirement: The Argus (Brighton) website. His other occupation was as an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

for the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

Career

Willard became a referee for

in 1990, and was promoted to the

list of referees in 1994. He became a

referee in 1996. On 27 January 1998, he was referee for the

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

first leg between

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, which was a 2–1 home win. He also controlled the semi-final second leg the following year in the same competition, when Spurs won 1–0 at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

on 16 February 1999, for an aggregate win by that score. On 28 March 1998, Willard was involved in a Premier League game at Oakwell Stadium between

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

and Liverpool - which finished 2–3. He

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

three players from the home side –

Darren Barnard Darren Sean Barnard (born 30 November 1971) is a former professional footballer Barnard played as both wing-back and midfielder and played in the Premier League for both Chelsea and Barnsley. He also played in the Football League for Reading, ...

, Chris Morgan and

Darren Sheridan Darren Stephen Sheridan (born 8 December 1967) is an English former association football, footballer and manager. As a player, Sheridan played as a centre midfielder. He had one spell as a player-manager, with Barrow A.F.C., Barrow, before manag ...

– in the second half, causing play to be suspended for five minutes after Willard, having been chased by an interloper, was escorted off the pitch by stewards for his own protection until order was restored. He had to be given a police escort off the pitch after the game. His final Premiership game was

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

's 4–0 win over Middlesbrough at Upton Park on 16 May 1999, but he continued to referee for

. The English referees' chief at the time, Philip Don, stated that Willard had not taken any Premier League appointments due to "personal reasons".

Death

On 21 May 2024, it was announced that Willard had died, having had

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

References

External links

Gary Willard Referee Statistics
at

soccerbase ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing, and sports betting publisher published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60,629 cop ...

.com (incomplete)
Mark Hodkinson's view of the Barnsley match
excerpt from "Life at the Top", Mark Hodkinson, Queen Anne Press, 1998, {{DEFAULTSORT:Willard, Gary 1959 births 2024 deaths English football referees Premier League referees People from Worthing