Uriah Rennie

Some Lesser Known Facts About Uriah Rennie

• Uriah Rennie grew up in Sheffield, England. He had moved there from Jamaica when he was six years old.

• He had a black belt and was skilled in both aikido and kickboxing.

• Rennie began working as a referee in 1979, starting with local matches. He then spent several years in the Northern Premier League before joining the list of Football League referees in 1994.

  

• While he was still working as a referee, he pursued higher education and earned an MBA degree from Sheffield Hallam University.

• In 1996, Rennie became a magistrate in Sheffield.

• On 13 August 1997, Uriah became the first Black referee to officiate in the Premier League during a match between Derby County and Wimbledon. The game, which was the first at Derby’s new Pride Park Stadium, had to be stopped early due to a floodlight failure.

• In 2000, Rennie earned his spot as an international referee with FIFA and became part of the Select Group of professional referees in 2001.

• Uriah stepped down from the FIFA list in late 2004 after turning 45, which was the required retirement age. He, however, returned to refereeing in November 2007.

  

• Rennie then became the leader of the Sheffield and Hallamshire Football Association and later served as the president of the Sheffield Federation for School Sports. Through these positions, he helped to run football in the area and support young people in sports.

• In September 2010, Uriah became the president of Hallam FC, one of the oldest football clubs in the world.

• Rennie served as an ambassador for Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity and as a trustee for Voluntary Action Sheffield, a non-profit organisation.

• Rennie believed in contributing to society and supported two medical charities, Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity and St Luke’s Hospice.

• In 2013, he refereed a special football game that used the old rules from 1858, which was played for the first time in 150 years at Hallam FC.

  

• During his career, he refereed over 300 football matches for both English and international games.

• Uriah made a cameo appearance in BBC Two’s film ‘Marvellous’ in 2014.

  

• In 2015, he appeared as a referee in a game show titled ‘Freeze Out,’ which aired on ITV.

  

• In 2022, he did not let FIFA World Cup organisers in Qatar use the historic Youdan Cup trophy for the World Cup because he disagreed with the country’s policies toward LGBTQ+ people.

• Throughout his career, Uriah advocated for making sports more fair and equal for everyone. He supported mental health programs and worked to help disadvantaged communities.

• During a birthday trip to Turkey in 2024, Rennie experienced sudden, severe back pain that he initially thought was from sleeping awkwardly on a sun lounger, but the pain was so severe it prevented him from going paragliding as planned.

• By the end of his holiday, the pain was so severe that he could not sleep at all. When he returned home, he could barely walk due to the worsening condition.

• In October 2024, Rennie was admitted to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield where he spent five months in the spinal unit.

• Medical tests revealed he had a rare neurological condition caused by a nodule pressing on his spine, which left him paralysed from the waist down and could not be treated with surgery. In April 2025, Uriah revealed that he was working to regain his ability to walk.

  

• He was appointed as the Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University on 8 May 2025.

  

• Uriah Rennie passed away on 7 June 2025. His family later revealed that he had been battling cancer.