Alcock became a Football League
linesman in 1982 at the age of twenty eight. He then spent six years at this level before progressing to full referee status. He joined the Premier League list in 1995. His first appointment to this competition was the 2–1 home win by
Coventry City over
Manchester City at
Highfield Road on 23 August 1995. On 26 September 1998, in a match between
Sheffield Wednesday and
Arsenal at
Hillsborough, he was pushed over by home team striker
Paolo Di Canio after having issued the player with a
red card. Di Canio was given an extended ban of 11 matches for his actions. Alcock continued refereeing Premier League matches without pause. His final match in that competition being the 0–0 draw between
Liverpool and
Southampton at
Anfield on 7 May 2000. He returned to refereeing in the Football League, where he spent his final two seasons, retiring after the
Norwich City versus
Stockport County match in
Division One on 21 April 2002. Following his retirement from refereeing, Alcock was manager of a shopping centre in
Maidstone, Kent, for seventeen years before stepping down in 2014. Alcock died of cancer on 29 January 2018. ==References==