Referee Mark Clattenburg to Leave EPL for Saudi Arabia

Warning: This bit of news registers at about a 7.2 on the soccer Geek-o-Meter. 

Referee Mark Clattenburg -- a familiar face (if not name) to almost any Premier League football devotee -- is leaving the EPL to work in the Saudia Arabian Football Federation.

The "Saudi Arabian Football Federation," you say? Indeed. Apparently the head ref of the SAFF (also and Englishman) just resigned, and so Clattenburg will be taking that job, helping to shape-up the state of refereeing in the league.

With a logo this good...you KNOW
the SAFF is legit.

What does this mean for the EPL and for you, the casual EPL fan? Not much, except if you enjoyed Clatts' peculiar brand of refereeing theater that he performed on a weekly basis in the EPL, something which, to a real football aficionado, is almost as much of a spectacle as the game itself: the interplay between players and refs over a call or a penalty or a card. It's a pantomime worthy of La Scala in Milan, and it happens multiple times per week, every week, on the football pitch. And Mark Clattenburg is one of the chief conductors of this drama. He will be missed.