Robert Holley "Bobby"Davidson (19 July 1928 – 17 December 1992)^[1] was a Scottishfootballreferee who also operated forFIFA.

Robert Holley "Bobby" Davidson

Davidson in 1969
Born	(1928-07-19)19 July 1928
Died	17 December 1992(1992-12-17) (aged 64)
Other occupation	football referee

He was Scotland's representative at the1962,1970 and1974 World Cups. He additionally took charge of thematch betweenEngland and the Rest of the World in October 1963 which celebrated the centenary ofThe Football Association, and refereed the1975 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final betweenDynamo Kiev andFerencváros.

Davidson refereed four matches over his World Cup career; two games in 1962, and a single game in each of the other competitions. In the 1962 tournament inChile, he took charge of the Group B match betweenItaly andWest Germany on 31 May 1962, plus West Germany againstChile on 6 June 1962, in the same group.^[2] He was also one of thelinesmen during theFinal betweenBrazil andCzechoslovakia on 17 June 1962 at theEstadio Nacional, Santiago under refereeNikolay Latyshev.^[3]

The match he handled in 1970 was the group stage tie betweenUruguay andIsrael on 2 June 1970.^[4] He was also alinesman for the group match involving theSoviet Union versusBelgium on 6 June 1970,^[5] and again for thequarter-final on 14 June 1970, when Uruguay beat the Soviet Union 1–0.^[6]

In Germany four years later, he refereedthe Netherlands againstArgentina in a second phase group game on 29 June 1974.^[7] He was linesman forPoland against Argentina in a group game on 15 June 1974,^[8] and also for Chile versusEast Germany in another group match played on 18 June 1974.^[9] In addition, Davidson was a linesman during the second phase group match between the Netherlands andBrazil on 3 July 1974.^[10]

Before the1974 Final there was much speculation in the Scottish press that he would referee the final, some suggesting this as a sort of 'consolation prize' forScotland being eliminated from that year's tournament without losing a game.^{[citation needed]} The final was actually refereed by England'sJack Taylor.

Bobby Davidson later became a director and honorary chairman of Airdrieonians and served on the Scottish league management committee. He died on 23 December 1993, at the age of 65.

• Bobby Davidson at WorldReferee.com 
• Bobby Davidson referee profile at WorldFootball.net 
• Bobby Davidson referee profile at EU-Football.info