Stephen W. Dunn is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

former

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

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 ...

. He was born on 24 October 1957. He resides in his birthplace of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

with his wife.

Career

Steve Dunn started refereeing local matches in 1978. He progressed through the

Gloucestershire County League The Gloucestershire County Football League is a football league in England, founded in 1968. The league is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA. It sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System and is a feeder to Divisions ...

, the Western League and the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called th ...

to become a linesman 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

in 1986. His appointment to the Football League list of referees came in 1992, and in the same year he became one of the first of the new FIFA assistant referees. Dunn's first ever Premiership match was on 23 August 1995, when

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Walthams ...

lost 1–0 at home to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

, the only goal coming from

Ugo Ehiogu Ugochuku Ehiogu (; 3 November 1972 – 21 April 2017) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre back from 1989 to 2009. He was the coach of the Tottenham Hotspur U23 team until his death in April 2017. He played in the Prem ...

. He reached the FIFA list of referees in 1997. Thus he became the first English official to achieve the "double" of the FIFA referees and FIFA assistants lists, a feat later matched by Steve Bennett,

Graham Barber Graham P. Barber (born 5 June 1958) is an English former football referee. He was based in Tring in Hertfordshire during his career, but now lives in Spain. Career In 1998, after progressing through to the FA Premier League List of referees vi ...

and Matt Messias. He completed six years at this level, stepping down at the age of 45 in 2002, although he continued refereeing as an over-age official in the 'domestic' competitions until 2005. In 2000, he was the man in the middle at the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

between

Kingstonian F.C. Kingstonian Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London which currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was founded in 1885 by YMCA, ...

and

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts ...

. One of his career highlights was the 2001 FA Cup Final between

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, when the 'Gunners' lost 2–1, their goal supplied by

Freddie Ljungberg Karl Fredrik "Freddie" Ljungberg (; born 16 April 1977) is a Swedish former professional footballer and manager who played as a winger. He was most recently a former assistant coach, and interim head coach of Arsenal. He began his career at Hal ...

, but with two late goals coming from

Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, Newcastle ...

to reverse the scoreline at 90 minutes. He would go on to referee

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

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

s in 2002 and 2004. Dunn's final Premier League game was Fulham's emphatic 6–0 win at home to relegated Norwich City on 15 May 2005. He refereed his last professional match on 18 May 2005, when he took charge of

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

's 2–0 win against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

play-off semi-final 2nd leg at

Portman Road Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internation ...

, both goals coming from

Bobby Zamora Robert Lester Zamora (born 16 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. Zamora began his career at Football League club Bristol Rovers, but was soon signed by Brighton & Hove Albion, where he found fir ...

.Championship Play-off Semi-final 2005
West Ham v. Ipswich: soccerbase.com website. He was appointed to referee for the following season ( 2005–06) but made no appearances due to injury.

References

Print

*Rothmans / Sky Sports Football Yearbooks, 1992–2005.

Internet

External links

Steve Dunn Referee Statistics
at

soccerbase ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 6 ...

.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Steve 1957 births English football referees Sportspeople from Bristol Living people FA Cup final referees Sportspeople from Gloucestershire English Football League referees Premier League referees