 Referee 
Martin Atkinson - Leeds, Yorkshire
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 went from the Conference to the Premiership in two seasons. In 2004/2005 he officiated at four Premiership games, in 2005/2006 he appeared in 14 games and last season he was one of the busiest ref's with 24 Premiership games. 

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 five Fulham Premiership 
games which have resulted in 3 home wins, one draw and an away defeat with 3 Fulham 
players being booked out of a total of 10 players. So far the Yorkshire man has 
been good for Fulham.
    
    Ref Atkinson has also bossed a Fulham FA Cup game, in January of last year down
    at The Cottage, which we won 3-0 against Stoke.                                          
 
 
  
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| Referee Stats - 2007/2008 Premiumship 
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| Ref Atkinson blows
            his whistle well above the average this season and is the 6th
    busiest whistler in the Premiership 
            but when he does use it he is less likely to issue a yellow than his 
            mates. 
   In terms of red cards he is a little above the average and in terms of pens
    he is below the Premiership average.
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|  | Mr. 
                  Atkinson's | Av 
                  Premiership Ref |   
                
          
|  | Total | Match Avg | Ref Pos | Total | Match Avg |   
          
| Games | 15 |  |  | 12 |  |   
          
| Fouls | 401 | 26.7 | 6th | 289 | 25.1 |   
          
| Yellows | 50 | 3.3 | 11th | 39 | 3.4 |   
          
| Reds | 3 | 0.2 | 7th | 2 | 0.2 |   
          
| Penalties | 2 | 0.1 | 15th | 3 | 0.3 |  
          
| Fouls per Yellow | - | 8.0 | 13th | - | 7.4 |  |  | 
  
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| Homer? (2006-2007) |  
          
| Total | Home | Away | Total |  
          
| Games | Fouls | Yellow | Red | Pen | Fouls | Yellow | Red | Pen | Fouls | Yellow | Red | Pen |  
          
| 15 | 193 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 208 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 401 | 50 | 3 | 2 |  
          
|  | 48% | 42% | 67% | 100% | 52% | 58% | 33% | 0% | - | - | - | - |  
          
| Premiership Average |  
          
| 12 | 50% | 43% | 53% | 66% | 50% | 57% | 48% | 34% | 289 | 39 | 2 | 3 |  | Ref Atkinson was the biggest homer in  the Premiership at one point in 2005/2006 but last season he started to become an average homer and he has continued to be
    so again this season.  Hopefully he continues to supress 
            his homer instincts at Bristol. |  | 
 
  
    
| Previous 
      Fulham games what was refed by Martin Atkinson | 
 
  
    
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        | 29-09-2007 Premiership Chelsea 0-0 Fulham 2y 1r Bookings: Drogba (sent off 74), (Chelsea) Davis (Fulham)
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            |  | 
| 27-01-2007 F.A. Cup Fulham 3-0 Stoke 3y 0r Bookings: Rosenior, Volz (Fulham) Fuller (Stoke)
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| 04-11-2006 Premiership Fulham 1-0 Everton  1y 0r Bookings: Neville (Everton)
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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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