Jeff Winter (born 18 April 1955 in

Middlesbrough, England 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 and the Tees Valley. Histo ...

) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

Refereeing career

Winter took charge of the 2004 FA Cup final between

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, his final game as a professional referee before retirement. Winter also appeared as an official on the

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

programme '' Superstars''. Since 2006, he has officiated in the annual series of national six-a-side tournaments called

Masters Football Masters Football was a six-a-side Indoor soccer, indoor football competition in the United Kingdom, where players over the age of 35 were chosen by the Masters Football Selection Committee to represent a senior club for which they played. Regiona ...

, referees for which are FA endorsed. This competition features ex-professional footballers chosen by the PFA, and is televised on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

Media work

He worked for TFM Radio on

Teesside Teesside () is an urban area around the River Tees in North East England. Straddling the border between County Durham and North Yorkshire, it spans the boroughs of Borough of Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton ...

until June 2008 and currently writes many columns for local and national media, all of which can be found on his official site.

Personal life

He supports

Middlesbrough F.C. Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional association football club based in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Boro, they were fo ...

, Stockton Town F.C., and Rangers F.C . It is rumoured he was due to officiate in the

2004 Football League Cup final The 2004 Football League Cup Final (known as the Carling Cup final for sponsorship reasons) was a football match that took place on 29 February 2004 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2003–04 Football League Cup, ...

only to be ruled out due to Middlesbrough appearing in the final against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

so was instead there as a fan.

Writing

Winter brought out his autobiography in 2006, entitled ''Who's The B*****d in the Black?''.

References

Print

* 1955 births English football referees FA Cup final referees Living people Premier League referees Sportspeople from Middlesbrough Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England {{England-footy-bio-stub