b. 31/3/1971
Mr Atkinson takes charge of his second Boro game this season, the first being Boro's visit to White Hart Lane early in the season when Tottenham won 2-0.
At 34-years-old he is one of the youngest referees around and a true novice when it comes to the Premier League. He only refereed 4 PL games last season, one of them at the Riverside against Portsmouth in October, when he booked 2 Pompey players.
In total last season he refereed 38 matches, booking 87 players and sending off 3. So far this season he has officiated in 19 games, producing the yelloe card 39 times and the red card just once.
He refereed the FA County Cup Final in 2003 and was promoted to the national list of referees at the start of the 2003/04 season. He refereed the League Two Play-Off Final at the Millennium Stadium last season.