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 tit ...

in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

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

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Biography

Hester has been a NZFC certified referee since 2004 and gained his FIFA international qualification in January 2007. He refereed some games in the 2008 Summer Olympics, 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 simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

game between

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. 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; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

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, or a warrant officer. However, absent cont ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, and played both

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

and football before turning to officiating.2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa, Referees Statistical Kit 3
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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 FIFA World Cup referees 2010 FIFA World Cup referees Sportspeople from Sydney New Zealand rugby union players People from Auckland Royal New Zealand Navy personnel