Referee Martin Atkinson - Leeds, Yorkshire
Ref Atkinson started his refereeing career when he was 16 in the local leagues and progressed to The Football League assistant referees list in 1998 before being promoted to the select group of assistant referees in 2000. He refereed the FA County Youth Cup Final in 2003 and was promoted to the national list of referees at the start of the 2003/04 season. Ref Atkinson must have friends in high places as he has gone from the Conference to the Premiership in two seasons. Last season he officiated at four Premiership games and so far this season he has looked after 14 games in the top flight. He had a reputation of being a lenient referee in The Championship and managed to avoid sending anyone off between August 2004 and October 2005. Yorkshire-based Atkinson has reffed three Fulham games which have resulted in 2 home wins and an away defeat with 2 Fulham players being booked out of a total of 8 players. So far the Yorkshire man has been good for Fulham.

Referee Stats - 2006/2007

Ref Atkinson is blowing his whistle well above average so far this season but when he does use it he is less likely to issue a yellow. So far he has averaged more than just over 2 yellows a game, nearly 33% below the Premiership referee average. In terms of red cards he has only pulled his little red card out once during his 6 Premiership games this season. He gave a straight red to Calum Davenport of Spurs for a professional foul in the area. Ref Atkinson has awarded 2 pens so far this season right on the Premiership average.   Mr. Atkinson's Av Premiership Ref Total Match Avg Ref Pos Total Match Avg Games 6 6 Fouls 164 27.3 5th 150 25.7 Yellows 13 2.2 13th 19 3.2 Reds 1 0.2 8th 1 0.2 Penalties 2 0.3 9th 2 0.3 Fouls per Yellow - 12.6 14th - 7.9

Homer? (2006-2007) Total Home Away Total Games Fouls Yellow Red Pen Fouls Yellow Red Pen Fouls Yellow Red Pen 6 85 7 0 2 79 6 1 0 164 13 1 2   52% 54% 0% 100% 48% 46% 100% 0% - - - - Premiership Average 6 49% 44% 22% 694% 51% 56% 78% 31% 150 19 1 2 Ref Atkinson was the biggest homer in the Premiership at one point last season but this season he has gone completely the other way.Hopefully he remembers his homer instincts on Saturday.

Previous Fulham games what was refed by Martin Atkinson

2005/2006

15-04-2006 Premiership Fulham 2-1 Charlton 0y 0r Bookings: None Quiet game for Ref Atkinson but good fun for Fulham fans Boa Morte got two excellent goals and the result put The Cottagers one short of the magical 40 with 4 games to go. We went on to get a further 9 points so nearly a quarter of our seasonal total from 10% of the games.

04-02-2006 Premiership Man Utd 4-2 Fulham 6y 0r Bookings: Brown, Evra, Neville, Smith (Man Utd) Boa Morte, Rosenior (Fulham) The one where Ref Atkinson and his lino could not see Van Nistelrooy a yard off-side and interfering with play for United's crucial third goal. And Coleman offered the assistant responsible a forthright opinion, which Ref Atkinson deemed worthy of a quick walk to the stands.

22-10-2005 Premiership Fulham 2-0 Liverpool 2y 0r Bookings: Josemi, Sissoko (Liverpool) Referee Atkinson correctly held out against heavy pressure from Liverpool players about a number of decisions

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