Death threat stuns Halsey

Mark Halsey is considering his refereeing future after being the subject of a death threat. He was in charge of Wigan’s clash with Newcastle in the English Premier League and missed Callum McManaman’s horror challenge on Massadio Haidara after his view was blocked. That led to him being attacked on Twitter and one threat left him shaken and unable to sleep on Sunday night. Halsey was then ‘disgusted’ after former World Cup referee Graham Poll laid into him on radio yesterday morning. A pal of Halsey said: “Mark was made aware of one particularly vile message asking for his address and claiming he deserved a death threat. Mark loves refereeing and is consistently one of the best in the game but after something like this he is left wondering whether it is all worth it. He didn’t even sleep on Sunday. Everyone can see that his view of the incident was blocked. Now he has had to hear about Graham Poll laying into him”.

Halsey, 51, is one of the most respected officials in the game and has battled back from cancer to return to refereeing. He has been in the EPL Select Group since 1999 and was on the FIFA List from 2000 to 2006. Halsey (photo) was attacked on Twitter and also came under fire from former referee Graham Poll who suggested the time could be right for him to quit. Poll said: “I see some referees who try their very hardest to run around and I get very disappointed when I see someone who doesn’t do that. Mark used to be one of the fittest referees in the Premier League. He’s been through a tough time in his life. I just hope Mark looks at it and thinks ‘is it time? Is this a signal to go?’”

Referees are unable to publicly defend themselves, but the pal said: “Mark has been left disgusted by the comments from Poll. This came from a referee who issued three yellow cards to the same player in the World Cup”.

It is not the first time Halsey has received a death threat. Last season Newcastle’s Steven Taylor revealed how Halsey had told him about other such threats.

Source: The Sun