Phil Dowd began refereeing in local leagues in 1984, eventually officiating in the Staffordshire Senior League and Midland Football Alliance. In 1992 he was appointed to the Football League assistant referees list, before joining the League's full list of referees five years later in 1997, aged 34.
He was promoted to the Premier League list in 2001, and is now in his 15th year as a Select Group Referee His first Premier League game was a 2-0 victory for Fulham over Everton on 8 December 2001 with Hayles scoring a brace. It was an eventful match as seven were booked and both sides reduced to ten men with the dismissals for Boa Morte for Fulham and Weir for Everton,
He was the fourth official at the 2006 FA Cup Final and other notable matches are as follows.
On 28 February 2010 Phil Dowd refereed the League Cup final between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium. In the fifth minute of the match, he deemed Manchester United's Nemanja Vidić to have fouled Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor in the penalty area. Whilst he did award Villa a penalty kick, he elected not to punish Vidić; some commentators felt the offence qualified as a professional foul and therefore warranted a red card. United overturned Villa's early penalty to ultimately win the match, and trophy, 2–1.
The following year he officiated the 2011 FA Community Shield on 7 August 2011 between Manchester City and Manchester United, also the 160th Manchester derby, at London's Wembley Stadium. United won the match 3-2 with a last-minute winner courtesy of Nani. Seven yellow cards during the course of the game.
He refereed the 2012 FA Cup Final on 5 May 2012, with Chelsea beating Liverpool 2-1 and described his appointment to the Cup final as an "honour and privilege". The fixture took place on the third anniversary of the death of his father, who Phil Dowd said had always hoped to see his son referee a final of the FA Cup.
Since his last Lilywhite match in September 2009, he has officiated Manchester United 21 times with 12 wins, 5 draws and 4 defeats. His last Red Devils match was a 1-0 defeat to Southampton at Old Trafford on 11 January 2015. His two other United matches this season were also at Old Trafford with a 4-0 win against QPR and a 1-1 draw verses Chelsea.
His last match was the 3-2 win for Liverpool against Tottenham on 10 February 2015. Phil Dowd produced 8 yellow cards in the match at Anfield to take his tally to 20 yellow cards in his last 3 matches.
Phil Dowd – referring record (since 1998/99):
|
Season: |
Matches: |
Yellow Cards: |
Red Cards: |
|
2014/15 |
23 |
103 |
4 |
|
2013/14 |
35 |
158 |
8 |
|
2012/13 |
38 |
130 |
5 |
|
2011/12 |
38 |
137 |
5 |
|
2010/11 |
38 |
139 |
12 |
|
2009/10 |
39 |
135 |
5 |
|
2008/09 |
45 |
148 |
11 |
|
2007/08 |
45 |
124 |
11 |
|
2006/07 |
33 |
99 |
3 |
|
2005/06 |
46 |
183 |
8 |
|
2004/05 |
36 |
115 |
7 |
|
2003/04 |
28 |
104 |
6 |
|
2002/03 |
38 |
130 |
8 |
|
2001/02 |
29 |
109 |
13 |
|
2000/01 |
33 |
120 |
10 |
|
1999/2000 |
33 |
85 |
4 |
|
1998/99 |
32 |
125 |
3 |
Phil Dowd and Preston (Since 1998/99)
|
Date: |
Result: |
PNE Goalscorers: |
Total Cards: |
PNE Cards: |
|
23/09/09 |
PNE 1 Tottenham 5 |
Brown |
2 Y |
Nolan |
|
25/04/09 |
Birmingham 1 PNE 2 |
McKenna; Wallace |
4Y / 3R |
(Yellow) -Parkin; Wallace (Red) – Williamson; Wallace |
|
20/02/07 |
PNE 2 Norwich 1 |
Pergl; Dichio |
1 Y |
none |
|
19/02/06 |
PNE 0 Middlesbro’ 2 |
none |
4 Y |
Davidson / Mawene |
|
18/09/01 |
PNE 1 Wolves 2 |
Lucketti |
4 Y |
Gregan / Kidd |
|
19/08/00 |
PNE 3 Sheffield Utd. 0 |
Appleton; Macken 2 |
1Y / 1R |
none |
|
17/10/98 |
PNE 2 Colchester 0 |
Eyres; Nogan |
none |
none |
Michael Mullarkey and David Bryan are the assistants whilst Lancashire Football League referee David Webb is the fourth official. His last Lilywhite match was the 1-0 FA Cup Second Round match against Shrewsbury on 6 December 2014.