Mark Halsey of Bolton will referee his first Liverpool game of the season as Fulham visit Anfield this Saturday.

The 47-year old has been a Premiership referee since 1999 after only 10 years of learning the trade in the lower leagues. Mark actually played semi-professional football before taking up the whistle. The first major appointment of his professional career was the Second Division play-off final between Manchester City and Gillingham in 1999.

He has since gone on to referee in the FIFA World Disabled Cup in Japan 2002 after being the 4th official for the FA Cup Final the previous month. He has been a FIFA registered official since 2000. His first international match as a referee was in February last year as France beat Belgium 2-0 in a friendly in Brussels.

Last season he refereed the traditional curtain raiser at Wembley between Chelsea and Manchester United. A few months later he was back there again with Chelsea as they fought out the Carling Cup Final with Tottenham Hotspur.

Mark is one of our luckier officials, with only two defeats in the last 17 games with him in the middle. In contrast Fulham have failed to win in the last 6 games with Halsey as the referee.

His assistants will be Andy Garrett and Trevor Massey with Scott Mathieson as the fourth official.

Some memorable matches involving Liverpool and Mark Halsey:


5th May 2001- Hat-trick at Anfield for Michael Owen as we beat Newcastle United 3-0.
20th October 2001 - Another hat-trick, this time for Robbie Fowler as we beat Leicester City 4-1 at Filbert Street. These were to be the last goals Robbie scored for Liverpool.
5th January 2002 - Nicolas Anelka scores his first Liverpool goal in a 3-0 FA Cup win over Birmingham City at Anfield.
4th December 2004 - Antonio Núñez plays in his first full Premiership game as we draw 1-1 at Aston Villa.
13th August 2005 - Pepe Reina, Momo Sissoko and Bolo Zenden make their Premiership bows for Liverpool in a goalless draw at Middlesbrough.
29th April 2006 - Anfield says goodbye to Traoré, Kromkamp, Cissé and Morientes who all play their last game there. Morientes signs off with a goal in 3-1 win against Aston Villa
29th September 2006 - Dirk Kuyt scores his first Liverpool goal in Luis García's 100th game during a 2-0 win over Newcastle at Anfield. Alonso scores the second from his own half.
30th December 2006 - A Luis García goal late in the first half gives us all three points at Tottenham Hotspur. This was the last Liverpool goal of his career.
10th February 2007 - Craig Bellamy scores after 6 minutes, his last Liverpool goal in the Premiership. Arbeloa makes his Liverpool bow but Newcastle come back to win 2-1 at a rain-soaked St James' Park.
25th August 2007 - Momo Sissoko scores his first Liverpool goal and our 7,000th in the league during a 2-0 win at Sunderland. Voronin gets his first goal on his full Premiership debut, while Ryan Babel also makes his first start.
7th October 2007 - Fernando Torres heads a late equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur.