[1] Uriah Duddley Rennie[2] was born on 23 October 1959[3] in Jamaica, and moved to Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire in England at the age of six.

He was given his first Premiership appointment on 23 August 1997, a game between Leeds United and Crystal Palace at Elland Road.

Keith Hackett, head of the Professional Game Match Officials Board has described him as "the fittest referee we have ever seen on the national and world scene.

"[7] At the end of 2004, he retired from the FIFA list, after reaching the compulsory age of 45 but made a return to active refereeing in November 2007.

[citation needed]In the same month he was also named as the new chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University to be officially installed in early 2025.