AFTER officiating in the English Football League for almost three seasons now, Wiltshire-based Sam Allison has set his sights on refereeing in the Premier League.

If he was to do so, it would make him the first black referee to officiate in the top-flight since Uriah Rennie in 2008.

Allison has been refereeing since 2011, and made the jump up to become a professional referee in 2020.

However, blowing a whistle wasn’t always the goal for the now EFL referee, with his journey beginning as a player.

Football was already a key part of his family, with relatives such as Fitzroy Simpson and Wayne Allison going on to have professional careers, both also playing for Swindon.

He was at Swindon’s school of excellence as a youngster and represented England schoolboys numerous times.

However, he went on to spend most of his career playing semi-professionally, and it was at Chippenham Town where the idea of becoming a referee first began.

Talking to the EFL, Allison looked back on the very first game he refereed.

He said: “Blowing that whistle for the first time was pretty daunting, but I think from that point onwards refereeing became infectious, so I began trying to move up the system as quickly as I could.”

Fast forward 12 years, and Allison has now refereed in the EFL for almost three years while fulfilling his role as a fourth official for a Premier-League fixture.

Seen by many as a role model, Allison hopes his success as a referee can help pave the way for those also trying to make it.

“Being a black referee and a black man in this day and age, it’s about being strong and confident, showing those people in your communities that you can do good, and you can achieve,” he said.

“I want to be a role model, a floor model within my community and show my representation as a black man in football.”

In the top seven divisions, just four out of the 200 referees are Black or Asian: Joel Mannix, Aii Aiibola, Sunny Gill, and of course Allison.

Bath-born Allison says work is being done to diversify the referee game.

“I think we’re all on the same path in order to make change and make sure we have representation,” he said.

“My desire has to be to reach the Premier League to show people that they can do it.”

Allison has also been working part-time in the fire service since 2006, which he believes crosses over to the refereeing world.

He said: “When you’re fighting fires and saving lives, that’s a pressure situation.

“With refereeing, there will always be pressure on decisions made by myself during a game, so I think the firefighting has helped.”