He became a Football Leaguelinesman in 1980 at the age of 28. In 1985, he missed out at the interview stage for a place on the referees list but was successful the following year.
Very soon he showed his potential to be a leading referee and picked up a fair number of top division games. His progress was accelerated by FIFA's decision to reduce its retirement age for referees to forty five. This provided new opportunities for a number of younger officials and Don was one of five promoted to the FIFA List in 1992. His appointment to that year's FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Sunderland marked him out as a leader amongst the new crop of English international referees and he was to hold that status over the next few years.
Don took charge of the 1995 League Cup Final but his career came to a premature end at the end of that season. He had to retire, five years early, as work commitments as a headteacher took priority.[citation needed]
In retirement
He moved into a referee assessing role and later became head of refereeing at the Football Association towards the end of the 1990s. He favoured a hardline, "by the book" style of refereeing in the Premier League and ushered in the new Select List of professional referees in 2001. This though led to tensions, particularly with David Elleray who preferred to maintain his teaching career at Harrow School rather than turn professional. Other tensions appeared and he was later replaced by Keith Hackett.[citation needed]
Life outside football
He is the father of world champion triathlete Tim Don.[3]
