How Rennie broke barriers as Premier League's first black referee

In the final article of a six-part series championing football's black pioneers, we shine the spotlight on Uriah Rennie, the Premier League's first black referee. 

Uriah Rennie

On 13 August 1997 history was made when Uriah Rennie led out Derby County and Wimbledon to become the Premier League's first black referee.

To put Rennie’s significance into even greater context, it was over 15 years after he retired in 2008 before there was a second, when Sam Allison took charge of Sheffield United v Luton Town on Boxing Day 2023.

If his presence alone at the time did not do it, just how long it took for another black referee to follow in his footsteps underlines how much of an achievement it was for trailblazer Rennie to reach the level he did.

He was one of the men in the middle in the world’s biggest league for 10 seasons. He could hardly have been a more visible inspiration.

“I want to be able to leave a legacy where people are encouraged to go into the career and go into refereeing,” Rennie once said. 

Watch Rennie's story

Rennie's rise to the top

Rennie, who started refereeing in local football in 1979 before climbing via the Northern Premier League and Football League to the Premier League, certainly left a lasting impression. 

He took charge of 175 Premier League matches and his performances earned him the honour of overseeing further major occasions, including the 2001 Division One playoff final between Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End, along with a place on FIFA’s list of referees for four years. 

And it was not just because of the colour of his skin that Rennie, now 65, stood out but also his stature and style. 

Rennie, who grew up on a tough Sheffield estate after arriving in England from Jamaica, was imposing, practised martial arts and was once labelled “the fittest referee we have ever seen on the national and world scene” by Keith Hackett, the former head of Premier League referees.

Making the big decisions

As an official, Rennie was a confident figure who backed his judgement, never shirked the big decisions and never allowed himself to be intimidated.

He had to abandon his first ever match - Derby's first in the league at their then-new Pride Park home - following a floodlight failure.

In August 1999, Rennie had no qualms about bringing a premature end to Alan Shearer’s 100th Newcastle United appearance, showing the England captain his first ever red card for persistent use of the elbow.

In August 2002, Rennie took matters into his own hands and restrained Manchester United captain Roy Keane to take the heat out of a first flashpoint with Sunderland’s Jason McAteer before later dismissing the former when the pair clashed again. 

Rennie’s rise to the biggest stage offered hope.

Former semi-professional referee and author Ashley Hickson-Lovence once wanted to be the next Rennie and later considered his story so important he wrote a book, Your Show, about his barrier-breaking journey. 

When Rennie retired, a desire to try and fill the void and belief at the time that it could be done was one of the reasons Joel Mannix, now chairman of the Black, Asian and Mixed Ethnicity Referee Support Group (BAMREF), took up refereeing.

Assistant referee Akil Howson, who became the Premier League’s first black permanent official after Rennie in the summer of 2023, grew up watching him. 

Challenge for greater representation continues

But if there is one shame it is that Rennie’s emergence was not followed by the breakthrough of far more black officials.

It was not for a want of trying on Rennie’s part or a reflection of the example he set, but the challenge to address the imbalance goes on. 

And having done all he could with his pioneering presence while an active official, Rennie has continued to try and inspire change in retirement.

Among the off-field roles he has filled since hanging up his whistle was a two-year stint on the FA’s referees’ committee, and following his election in 2020 Rennie spoke about what he hopes the refereeing landscape will one day look like. 

“It shouldn't be unusual to see a female referee or a black referee or someone with a disability," he told the Daily Mail. 

“I want to make sure that people have at least the same opportunity that I supposedly had. But more importantly, that everybody has the same opportunity in the community so nobody is disproportionately affected purely because of who they are or the colour of their skin.”

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