Former Premier League referee Bobby Madley believes a vile rumour about him was spread by a Leeds United supporter.
The Wakefield-born ref, who’d officiated some of the biggest matches in the country, announced his surprise retirement back in 2018 - aged just 32.
Madley was removed from his prestigious position by the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL).
His sacking was because of a private video he sent when attending a parent and child race at his children's school.
He recorded a six-second Snapchat clip of someone with a walking impairment passing his car.
He captioned the clip ‘f**k me I have a chance of winning the parents race this year,’ which was later passed on to his employers by an unnamed person following an argument.
Madley has spoken openly about his sorrow regarding the incident but soon after his surprise exit, and the real reason being revealed, vicious rumours circulated about him on social media.
“I'm a Huddersfield fan, Huddersfield being the Terriers, and I think it was a Leeds fan who put out a comment that I was a ‘dog botherer’. Then it just snowballed online,” Madley told The Athletic.
“People were putting up pictures, quite inventive stuff, and some of them were funny. But then people started tagging in the police and the RSPCA and it started to get out of hand.
“All of a sudden, it was ‘trending’ number nine worldwide. Suddenly, people were saying they had seen a video and that I should be arrested.
“Then, there were animal rights campaigners saying, ‘I know where he lives’. I ended up needing police protection, all from a nonsense rumour.”
Madley, 34, has previously discussed how the whole affair affected his mental health. He moved to Norway and had taken up bar work while also refereeing.
The PGMOL has now welcomed Madley back to English football although he’ll have to work his way back up to his Premier League heights.
From next season, Madley will be taking charge of League One and League Two matches while he’ll be seeing out the remainder of this campaign officiating non-league matches.
