In 2020, Sam Allision became the first Black referee in the English Leagues since Uriah Rennie retired in 2008.
With two seasons of refereeing in the EFL almost under his belt, Allison is trailblazing a path for Black referees trying to follow his footsteps and make it professionally.
However, being the man in the middle wasn’t always the goal for the now EFL referee, with his journey beginning as a footballer.
He was at Swindon’s school of excellence as a youngster, also representing England schoolboys’ numerous times.
“I’ve had football in the family all my life really” as Allison lists off family members such as Fitzroy Simpson and Wayne Allison who both went on to have careers in the professional game.
“Having other relatives that were really food at football meant it was sort of in our DNA, at family functions we would always be out in the park messing about with a football”
His ability caught the eye of many which led to numerous trials whilst young, however the Swindon youth prospect went on to spend most of his career playing semi-professionally.
However, he claims that it was his attitude rather than his ability that held him back from cementing a place in the professional game.
“When you are good at something, representing your country and going to trials, it can lure you into a false sense of security that you’ve already made it.”
“I don’t think my approach and attitude was right for someone that had the talent so it’s definitely lessons learned which I’ve been able to pass on to family relatives and friends”
It was in 2011 whilst playing for Chippenham Town where the idea of becoming a referee began.
The suggestion was brought forward by at the time Chippenham secretary George McEffery.
Allison wasn’t keen on the idea of it at first to say the least.
“I looked at him and said, are you joking?”
“I think it was more because I didn’t see any many people who looked like me who refereed, and at the time it just didn’t feel right for me”
However, despite his initial reaction, Allison managed to find himself on a refereeing course just two weeks later through the work of McEffery.
I owe everything to him [McEffery] In regard to refereeing, he steered me in the right direction.”
“He identified that because of my football ability and coaching my attitude that it would be quite a good combination to bring the two together to become a good referee”
With his day job as a firefighter, Allison believes there were qualities which carried over to the refereeing world.
“Firefighting meant I was always quite naturally fit.”
“The expectation is you get gym time and get paid to be fit so therefore I could put more emphasis into my training which would then benefit me as a referee as well as a firefighter.”
This meant that Allison found little issue keeping up with the pace when he made the jump up to the professional game in 2020.
Uriah Rennie was the first and is still the last Black referee to ply his trade in the top flight.
Allison says Uriah Rennie has motivated him in his journey and believes he can follow suit to the former Premier League referee.
“Being a black referee, there isn’t many of us so Uriah for me was always one that I sort of looked at and thought okay well if he can do it, why can’t I?”
“Uriah’s not my coach, but he’s there for certain things that I may have gone through or vice versa so the support is there when I need it”
Seen by many as a role model for black referees trying to make their way up the ladder, Allison believes it’s not about him, it’s about the bigger picture.
“I don’t really like the term role model because it’s not about me, I want people to be able to use me as a stepping stone “
“I prefer the term ‘floor model’, if someone can step on me to get where they want to get, I’ve got no problem with that whatsoever.”
“I want to help people going through the same challenges and problems that I went through.”
In the top seven divisions, just four out of the 200 referees are Black or Asian: Joel Mannix, Aii Aiibola, Sunny Gill, and of course Allison.
Bath-born Allison says work is being done to diversify the referee game.
“The PGMOL and the FA are trying to make strides and there’s a lot of work going on in the background in regard to support.”
“It’s about realising there are barriers, we’ve got to make sure we try break them down bit by bit and work together to make a change.”
Jack Bishop Sport 