Championship newbie Ruebyn Ricardo, a referee with an interesting back story, is the man in the middle for QPR’s Saturday breakfast date with West Brom.

Referee >>> Ruebyn Ricardo (Leicestershire)

Assistants >>> Shaun Hudson (Tyne and Wear) and Darren Williams (Newcastle)

Fourth Official >>> Carl Brook (East Sussex)

History

QPR 2 Watford 1, Saturday April 4, 2026, Championship

Young referee Ricardo, who ended up carding half the outfield players on the pitch and felt like he was buying everything anybody was selling all afternoon, then awarded a tremendously soft free kick against a third sub, Daniel Bennie, on the edge of the QPR’s box. We’ll at least do Joe Walsh the courtesy of saying Louza’s shot was deflected, but this still looked a relatively comfortable save and from our angle at the front of F Block the ball appeared to pass straight between the goalkeeper’s arms as it flew into the net.

QPR: Walsh 5; Mbengue 6, Dunne 7, Edwards 7, Norrington-Davies 7; Vale 8 (Poku 79, 6), Morgan 7, Varane 7, Smyth 8 (Saito 72, 5); Kone 7, Kolli 7 (Bennie 46, 6)

Subs not used: Adamson, Clarke-Salter, Cook, Hamer, Hayden, Esquerdinha

Goals: Kolli 26 (assisted Smyth), Smyth 63 (assisted Vale)

Yellow Cards: Kolli 29 (foul), Dunne 30 (foul), Smyth 61 (foul), Kone 84 (dissent), Mbengue 87 (time wasting), Poku 90+1 (foul)

Watford: Selvik 7; Keben 3, Pollock 6, Goglichidze 3 (Semedo 85, -), Petris 4; Irankunda 6 (Doumbia 57, 6), Bove 5 (Nabizada 57, 6), Ekwah 5 (N Mendy 57, 6), Chekvetadze 5 (Baah 73, 7); Louza 7, Kjerrumgaard 6

Subs not used: Baxter, Ince, Mullins, F Mendy

Goals: Louza 85 (free kick, won Baah)

Yellow Cards: Bove 23 (foul), Ekwah 49 (foul), Goglichidze 62 (persistent fuckwittery), Louza 90+1 (foul)

Referee - Ruebyn Ricardo (Leicestershire) 5 Felt like he was buying everything anybody was selling on the ball, typified by the soft award of a free kick for the Watford goal where Bennie clearly takes the ball right in front of him. Meanwhile off the ball all sorts of nonsense being allowed to go on unchecked. Ten yellow cards felt very chunky.

QPR 0 Oxford United 0, Wednesday October 1, 2025, Championship

QPR: Nardi 5; Dunne 6, Cook 6, Mbengue 6, Norrington-Davies 6; Dembele 5 (Saito 61, 6), Hayden 5 (Varane 81, -), Field 5 (Madsen 61, 6), Vale 5 (Smyth 75, 5); Kone 5, Frey 4 (Burrell 61, 6)

Subs not used: Morgan, Esquerdinha, Hamer, Morrison

Yellow Cards: Mbengue 74 (foul), Burrell 87 (foul), Norrington-Davies 90+3 (scuffle)

Oxford: Cumming 6; Spencer 6, Helik 6, Long 6, Currie 6 (Leigh 90+5, -); Placheta 5 (Mills 69, 5), De Keersmaecker 6, Brannagan 5, Krastev 5 (Dembele 56, 5); Lankshear 5 (L Harris 69, 5), Prelec 5 (M Harris 90+5, -)

Subs Not used: Davies, Goodrham, Ingram, Vaulks

Yellow Cards: L Harris 85 (foul)

Referee - Ruebyn Ricardo (Leicester) 7 A very good first hour on his first QPR appointment. A rather more ropey last half hour concluding with the nonsense in stoppage time that should have seen Rowett dismissed for deliberately stopping a quick throw in and then trying to burn off all the stoppage time with some general cuntiness – bottled that rather with two yellow cards wafted in the vague direction of both benches. You can only work with what you’ve got at the end of the day, never mind refereeing this I could barely stay awake through it.

Stats

Ruebyn Ricardo, 28, began refereeing in 2013 when a broken wrist prevented him playing sports and his PE teacher asked him to referee the session instead. He was promoted into the national League at the start of 2022/23 and did a first EFL game at the end of that season when Crewe beat Swindon 2-1 in League Two. The following season was again spent mostly in the top division of non-league with a smattering of EFL appearances towards the end, and he also did the Conference play-off tie between Bromley and Altrincham to finish his campaign.

Last season was his first as a regular EFL referee. He showed a chunky 177 yellows and four reds in 38 games (4.657) topped out by four separate hauls of nine cards in a game. He made his Championship debut on New Year’s Day with an Oxford game – their 1-0 away victory at Millwall a first win on the road in the second tier. He did five Championship games in the end and got the FA Vase final between Whyteleafe and Whitstable.

It’s was an active, prolific second year on the list with 137 yellows (4.72) and five reds shown in 29 games. Twice he got to ten yellows in a game, including our home win against Watford. He showed ten yellows and a red at Birmingham 2-3 Hull and did eight yellows and a red twice (Hull 1-0 West Brom, Coventry 0-0 Oxford) and a seven and one at the recent Swansea 2-0 Stoke. West Brom lost both games with him 1-0 and had Alfie Gilchrist sent off in their loss at Hull.

Four games so far this season with 12 yellow cards shown, half of them at Derby 2-2 Cardiff in the Championship.

If you enjoy LoftforWords, please consider supporting the site through a subscription to our Patreon or tip us via our PayPal account loftforwords@yahoo.co.uk.

Pictures - Reuters Connect

Recent Stories