Emirates FA Cup Final referee Darren England reflects on his journey and experiences

Following his appointment as referee for the 145th FA Cup Final on Saturday, the South Yorkshire-based official takes us through his thoughts on the game, his journey so far, the ups and downs of refereeing and dubious pre-match meal choices ...

Congratulations on being selected as the 2026 Emirates FA Cup final referee – this must constitute the pinnacle of your career to date?

Absolutely. When you’re coming through the levels and it starts getting more serious and you become professional, then obviously the FA Cup Final is in your sights. I was previously an assistant referee and my last ever domestic match as an assistant was the FA Cup Final back in 2015, so that was a great send-off and an occasion to hang up the flag. Then eleven years later, having started refereeing in League Two and working my way up to the back to the Premier League, it becomes a bit of a target to do finals, and the pinnacle is the FA Cup. So I’m delighted to have received the call.

What are your memories of that 2015 FA Cup final between Arsenal and Aston Villa?

It was quite emotional in terms of it being my last ever game as an assistant. I had to make a big decision back then to choose to go down the referee route – it was almost like 'Deal Or No Deal'. I was a Fifa assistant referee, Premier League assistant, doing big European matches and Premier League games and then had to decide whether to give all that up and start again, refereeing in the National League and working my way through League Two and League One and with a view to making my way back up to the top. It was a great occasion and while I didn't make any mistakes in the game, I managed to trip going up the Wembley stairs, which was caught on BBC One as well! Gary Lineker even said: ‘The officials have been really good today, they’ve only made one error – the assistant referee’s just tripped up the stairs.’ So that was quite fun. Hopefully I'll concentrate better this time.

Two years later you refereed the 2017 League Two play-off final between Blackpool and Exeter – what was the experience like?

I’ve had quite an amazing connection with Wembley, really. My first ever live TV game as a match official was at Wembley, when I was an assistant referee for the 2008 Conference play-off final between Cambridge and Exeter. That was obviously quite daunting because of the importance of the game. But two years later I did the League Two play-off final, my first time as a referee at Wembley. Play-off finals are massive occasions and they whetted the appetite to push on.

A young Ollie Watkins played for Exeter in that 2017 play-off final …

It’s good to see some of these players as we've almost been on the same journey together. Some of the players have been coming through the levels at the same time as me and then getting to the holy grail of the Premier League. It helps relationships with the players that I’ve done that with as well, because I've refereed them at various levels, and you’ve got a bit more of a mutual respect with each other because you've been through that journey together.

And then your journey continued last year as the fourth official at the FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Crystal Palace …

Yeah, it was a motivational appointment to have because you know that if you're a fourth official, then hopefully you've got a good chance of getting to referee the Final in the future. I was fourth official for both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup Finals and that just gave me more determination to get the Final in the next couple of years, so to do it this year is amazing. And it’s opened up another target of mine because apart from many, many years ago when referees and assistants regularly changed roles, I may have been the first person to run the line and then become a Final referee. I want to do all the roles and my next one is to be VAR, so then I will have done all four roles on the Final, which is a nice little target to achieve.

The day of the FA Cup Final must be unlike any other day in a referee's life – for one, you’re not usually meeting the Prince of Wales before a football match …

We actually had a funny exchange with him last year. We’d come off the pitch after the warm-up and were walking back through the big double-doors as you go into the changing room at Wembley and Prince William was coming through to get ready for the procession, the handshakes and stuff before the match. So we opened the door, of course, for him to come through and he was like, 'No, no, guys, come on, please come through!' We had this stand-off, we're saying, 'No, you're the Prince!' and he’s saying: 'Guys, I am not coming through there, you're the referees today, you are coming through this door.' So we trumped the Prince, basically – that was quite fun.

You were talking about the stick or twist moment when it came to the decision to become a referee. What was the first professional game you refereed once you'd made that call?

My first Football League game was Hartlepool versus Morecambe but it was my second game that was a real eye-opener. It was Accrington v Mansfield on a wet Tuesday night and I gave out a lot of yellow cards. It was a really tough game and I thought to myself, what have I done? Should I have stayed on the line? But if I’m ever asked what game I’ve learned the most from, I always say that one. That really made me roll my sleeves up and go: 'You know what, I've made my decision. I need to see this through now and work even harder'. It was a wake-up call and made me realise this is a tough, tough level of football, that gave me that kick up the backside to think, let's work hard and just go for it.

How did you get into the officiating in the first place?

I originally came from a coaching background – I coached for Barnsley academy for a number of years and whilst I was there, my old manager from a grassroots team was taking his son on a referee’s course and I went along with them – this was when we were 16 years old. At the time, it was just a case of getting something on my CV really, another skill and qualification. From there I started refereeing kids’ football and then and my first adult game was in the over-35s league in Sheffield, the veterans' league, which was a great learning curve. It was slower, of course, so you can work on your positioning but it was a real tough one in terms of managing the players because they were 40, 45 years old and I was 18. There aren’t many jobs that put you in that position, so it really brought you on and developed those skills. I was still playing football, I was coaching but my full-time job then became within football when I worked for Barnsley FC's Football in the Community scheme. So I was immersed in football in different roles and then the refereeing just got more and more serious – that's when I decided to hang up the coaching folder and then take up the whistle properly.

The importance of the FA Cup in England is really highlighted when a team goes on one of those amazing runs, as your hometown team Barnsley did in 2008 when it reached the semi-finals, knocking out Liverpool and Chelsea along the way …

Yeah, that was absolutely amazing. But the day of the semi-final was a disappointment on two fronts – the fact that we lost (to Cardiff) but also the fact that I had food poisoning and I actually ended up in the medical unit of Wembley! I'd been for a curry with some friends the night before, got on the bus and started feeling unwell and was just really, really poorly with food poisoning. The doctor in the medical unit said to me: 'Why have you travelled all this way?' I just replied: 'To be honest with you, Barnsley don't get to Wembley much, so we have to take these moments when we can!' I'll be honest with you, I’ve had better days at Wembley! I've had really good moments as a Barnsley fan being at Wembley, the League One play-off final where we beat Millwall and we beat Oxford in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final as well. We did that in the same year, so it was great to be a fan of a team who went to Wembley twice in the same year and won both times. But to beat Chelsea and Liverpool in 2008 was just unbelievable. I think it raised our expectations, almost like: ‘We've beat Liverpool, Chelsea … we're going to win the Cup!’ kind of thing. It probably raised the expectations too much, to be honest with you. But to go on that run as a fan provides amazing memories.

Is there a referees WhatsApp group?

You know what, there actually isn't. I've got a WhatsApp group with my team and we‘ve got a Cup Final WhatsApp group for all the guys on the game, just to share bits and pieces, organisational details and things like that but we don't have a Premier League referee WhatsApp group.

Have you discussed the FA Cup Final with any other referees since you've been told that you're in charge at the Final?

Yeah, we've had a few chats, just about the preparation really and what we have to be aware of. I'm in the fortunate position that I've experienced the Final before, so in terms of the run-up to the day and up to the moment I blow the whistle, there are going to be no real surprises so that will help because I'll be more calm and won't have to worry about what's going to happen. But just speaking to the guys about the occasion itself and how you navigate the game … obviously, it is a game of football, like every week but it's the Final, so it’s just about sticking to the same processes and trusting your judgements and trusting your ability.

What advice would you give to any young football fan who's considering picking up the whistle?

It’s becoming a really serious career for people now. When I first started and took the referees' course, I didn't think: 'Oh, I'm going to be a referee full-time, I'm going to go and referee the FA Cup Final'. That came later, when it did become more serious and I was refereeing at the semi-professional level of the game, in the Conference North, then the Conference and it was like: 'Okay, this this could be a serious career.' I think now how big the Premier League is, that's made refereeing an actual career and people are looking now and going, I want to be a referee. There aren’t many jobs where you can develop these skills at such an early stage. Nothing prepares you to go and referee a game with 22 adults where you're having to make split-second decisions under pressure. You have to develop your resilience because not everyone's going to agree with your decision, of course. But also, the opportunity it brings is just massive. I've been so fortunate to referee and officiate abroad, representing England at various matches and in different roles. I've been to 44 different countries refereeing and to have that opportunity to travel to places like Japan, meet different people, experience different walks of life and cultures all through blowing a whistle and what started out as a hobby many years ago, has just been amazing. Listen, there's obviously downs to it, of course there are but it's how you bounce back from those and the highs far outweigh the lows.

As long as you’re not planning a curry on Friday evening …

When the menu choices come through from the hotel we’ll be eating in the night before the Cup Final, I will not be choosing a curry, I can assure you!