Michael Hester (born 2 May 1972), is a former New Zealand association football

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 ...

in the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

. Holder of a FIFA international licence, he has participated at the highest level, officiating at the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

Biography

Hester has been a NZFC certified referee since 2004 and gained his

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 ...

international qualification in January 2007. He refereed some games in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, and has also refereed matches in the Oceania qualification group for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was also appointed as a referee for the 2009 FIFA Under 17 World Cup in Nigeria. Hester was included on the short list to officiate at the

in South Africa along with fellow New Zealand referee Peter O'Leary, both of whom were confirmed in the final 30 officials to take charge at the finals. On 12 June 2010 he refereed the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

game between

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. Hester blew the final whistle on his refereeing career at the end of the 2011 New Zealand winter season to focus on his career in the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent acquisition of the cruiser , whi ...

Personal life

He has worked, besides his football career, as a

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, and played both

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and

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 ...

before turning to officiating.2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa, Referees Statistical Kit 3
/ref>

Honours

* 2009: NZDF Sports Award: Outstanding Sports Person of the Year
/ref> *2017: Official referee of The Football Ramble

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hester, Michael 1972 births Living people Australian soccer referees New Zealand association football referees 2010 FIFA World Cup referees Sportspeople from Sydney New Zealand rugby union players People from Auckland Royal New Zealand Navy personnel