Stuart Attwell graduated from Staffordshire University in 2004. Refereeing had been a lifelong ambition for him, according to his father. He worked his way up from local games to non-League football, then to the West Midlands League and the Football League.
He officiated his first match on 11 August 2007 in a 0-0 draw between Hereford and Rotherham. He first officiated in League 1 when taking charge of a game between Swansea and on 26 December 2007 he made his Championship debut officiating a 1-1 draw between Sheffield United and Blackpool. On 26 May 2008 he officiated the League 2 play-off final at Wembley as Stockport beat Rochdale 3-2.
He was included in the Select Group of referees for the 2008/09 season making him eligible to referee in the Premier League, and granting him full-time employment by the Professional Game Match Officials Association. On 25 June 2008, he was promoted to the list of top flight officials in the Premier League, after just one season in the Football League. This made him the youngest ever Premier League referee at 25 years of age. On 23 August 2008, he made his Premier League debut when he refereed a 1-1 draw between Blackburn and Hull.
Less than a month later, Attwell and one of his assistants, Nigel Bannister, were heavily censured for a decision to award an early goal to Reading in a Championship game at Watford on 20 September 2008. Bannister flagged for a goal instead of a corner kick after Watford's John Eustace played the ball over the byline – four yards wide of the goal post – before Reading's Noel Hunt hooked it back into play. Attwell awarded Reading a goal The incident, dubbed in the media as a "ghost goal", led to both Attwell and Bannister being dropped from their duties the following weekend.
On 20 December 2008, Attwell was added to the international list of referees for 2009.
In July 2010, he officiated in Japanese J League matches for three weeks as part of a referee exchange programme signed between the English and Japanese FA’s
On 25 September 2010, Attwell allowed a controversial Liverpool goal in a match at Anfield between Liverpool and Sunderland. From a free kick in his own half, Sunderland defender Michael Turner touched the ball back to goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who apparently believed the ball was still dead. Fernando Torres ran on with the ball to draw the goalkeeper and then passed to Dirk Kuyt who scored into an empty net.
In February 2012, he was demoted from the list of Select Group Referees and returned to Football League duty on the National List. The move was said to come by mutual consent.
However, performances in the lower leagues since then have impressed and he has been given charge of the Premier League game on 1 November 2014 between Leicester and West Brom which the Baggies won 1-0. Three days earlier he officiated the Capital One Cup as Newcastle beat Manchester City 2-0.
His last match was a 4-2 win for Watford at Cardiff on 28 December. His last Norwich match was a 0-0 draw at Sheffield Wednesday which saw 7 yellow cards produced.
Season’s Records
|
Season: |
Matches: |
Yellow Cards: |
Red Cards: |
|
2014/15 |
21 |
55 |
3 |
|
2013/14 |
36 |
108 |
9 |
|
2012/13 |
44 |
129 |
3 |
|
2011/12 |
32 |
102 |
6 |
|
2010/11 |
25 |
79 |
2 |
|
2009/10 |
26 |
95 |
4 |
|
2008/09 |
30 |
94 |
8 |
|
2007/08 |
32 |
52 |
9 |
Stuart Attwell and PNE:
|
Date: |
Match: |
PNE Goalscorers: |
Cards: |
PNE Cards: |
|
28/01/14 |
Bradford 0 PNE 0 |
None |
3 Y / 2 R |
Y – Wright; Welch R - Kilkenny |
|
10/11/12 |
Stevenage 1 PNE 4 |
Beavon; King; Monakana; Wroe |
2 Y |
Keane |
|
19/01/08 |
Stoke 3 PNE 1 |
Brown |
Nil |
Nil |
His assistants are Glen Hart and Matt Corlett. The fourth official is Ryan Johnson.