Uriah Rennie was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. He was the first black referee to referee in the FA Premier League. Much maligned and highly controversial due to many instances of refereeing blunders. For example, in a 2003 FA Premier League match between Southampton F.C. and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southampton striker Kevin Phillips tripped on the ball in the opposing penalty area with no Wolves defenders near him. Rennie awarded a penalty to the Saints and stuck firmly to his decision in spite of the vehement protests from Wolverhampton. James Beattie stepped up and scored and Southampton ended up 2-0 winners of the match. For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ... South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in England. ... A referee presides over a game of association football (soccer). ... FA Premier League logo Team locations in England The FA Premier League (which, for sponsorship reasons, is often referred to as the Barclays Premiership in the UK and the Barclays English Premier League internationally) is a league competition for English Football clubs located at the top of the English football... FA Premier League logo Team locations in England The FA Premier League (which, for sponsorship reasons, is often referred to as the Barclays Premiership in the UK and the Barclays English Premier League internationally) is a league competition for English Football clubs located at the top of the English football... Southampton Football Club (originally St. ... Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. is a Wolverhampton-based football club playing at Molineux. ... There are several people called Kevin Phillips: Kevin Phillips, political commentator and writer Kevin Phillips, England and Southampton football player This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... There are a number of noted individuals named James Beattie: James Beattie (writer), a Scottish academic and writer. ...

Rennie is often maligned for a few blunders, but his numbers are actually consistent with his peers. For reasons that may appear obvious, he is singled out from his counterparts. Actual observations of many games will show that Mike Riley appears to make more mistakes than Uriah Rennie.

What has occurred is that Uriah Rennie is not recognized for much that he has actually accomplished. He was recently appointed to host a 120,000 attendance match in the Middle East, an honor not given to many.

Although he is still a pioneer, Uriah Rennie has opened the doors for others to referee in the Premier League and continues to do a good job.