Career
He began refereeing in 1979 in local leagues, then operated in the Northern Premier League until 1994, at which time he was appointed to the Football League List of referees.
He was given his first Premiership appointment on 23 August 1997, controlling the 2-0 away win by Crystal Palace at Leeds United, goals being scored by Paul Warhurst and Attilio Lombardo.
In 2000, he became a FIFA referee.
He dealt Alan Shearer his first red card in a Newcastle v Aston Villa match in 1999, the reason for the red card was "persistent use of the elbow"
In 2001, he joined the Select Group of professional referees. Keith Hackett, head of the Professional Game Match Officials Board has described him as "the fittest referee we have ever seen on the national and world scene."
He refereed the 2001 (old) Football League Division One Play-off Final between Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, when Bolton won 3-0 with goals from Farrelly, Ricketts and Gardner. Uriah did not show a red or yellow card at all during the match.
At the end of the 2004-05 season, he retired from the FIFA list, at the compulsory age of 45.
Like many high-profile referees in top-flight football, Rennie has attracted criticism from within the game. In November 2006, he was mentioned in a remark by a stadium announcer, Adam Cattarall, at a Football League Championship match between Preston North End and Crystal Palace. It was announced over the public address system as the teams came back onto the pitch after half time: "Welcome to the second half of the Uriah Rennie show". His refereeing came under criticism yet again on 19 December 2006 after Southampton's 2-0 victory over Norwich, with Canaries' manager Peter Grant claiming: "It's scandalous the way he talks to players. He shows them no respect, and yet expects respect back. With this referee it's all about him. People come to watch the players and be entertained, not to watch the referee."
On 21 August 2007, The Sun newspaper announced that Rennie had been withdrawn from the list of referees after failing the prescribed fitness tests and that he would not referee again until he passed one. These tests are re-taken after one month.
However, his failure of the tests actually turned out to be due to a hamstring injury. He made his return to active refereeing on 24 November 2007, handling the Championship match between Scunthorpe United and Hull City, which finished as a 2-1 away win.
Rennie was again struck by injury at the start of the 2008/2009 season. He failed to recover from this injury all season, and as a result was removed from the Select Group of referees, along with Steve Tanner and Keith Stroud in May 2009.
In September 2010 Uriah became President of Hallam FC who are celebrating their 150th anniversary season and still play at the oldest football ground in the world, Sandygate in Sheffield
Read more about this topic: Uriah Rennie
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