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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 22 November 1896 | ||
| Place of birth | Nuneaton,Warwickshire, England | ||
| Date of death | 13 July 1978(1978-07-13) (aged 81) | ||
| Place of death | Southampton, England | ||
| Position | Centre-forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| St Luke's College, Exeter | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1919–1920 | Exeter City | 1 | (1) |
| 1920–1921 | Southampton | 3 | (0) |
| 1921–1922 | Harland and Wolff | ||
| 1922–1930 | Cowes | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
 | |||
| Other occupation | Schoolteacher | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1936–1939 | Football League | Linesman | |
| 1939–1944 | Football League | Referee | |
| 1948–1950 | Football League | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1944–1950 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
George Reader (22 November 1896 – 13 July 1978) was an English football referee, known for officiating in the1950 FIFA World Cup Final. He is the firstEnglishman (one of only 10 match officials from the United Kingdom) to do so, and the oldest match official at any World Cup in history.[1] He hailed fromNuneaton,Warwickshire.
By profession he was a schoolmaster, going to St Luke's teacher training college (the same one thatKen Aston was to attend) just after theFirst World War inExeter. St. Luke's is now part ofExeter University.
Finding work in Exeter as a young teacher, Reader first played as anamateur forExeter City in theSouthern Football League, in the1919–20 season. It was with that club that he played in a friendly againstSouthampton on 3 January 1920, a week before the third round of theFA Cup.[2] Reader scored and impressed the visiting side so much that they signed him for a fee of £50, as a handy replacementcentre-forward toBill Rawlings, who was a mainstay of the Saints side in the 1920s.
Unfortunately, given Rawling's abilities (he scored on average a goal every two games), Reader was unable to break into the side and played only three times in the oldThird Division (South)[3] before moving toHarland and Wolff for a year, and then playing on theIsle of Wight atCowes until 1930, commuting on the ferry from his job as an assistant schoolmaster in Southampton.[2]
He first took up refereeing in 1930, appearing onSouthampton Common,[2] and progressed through the promotional system with an alacrity that underlined his ability and experience. Within six seasons he was running the line inthe Football League, and three years later was invited to referee their matches in season1939–40. That season was abandoned after three games, due to the start of theSecond World War, and therefore Reader officially only refereed three Football League matches in his whole career.[4]
However, during hostilities, Reader featured prominently in wartime football, and was appointed as referee in twoWar Cup finals and theBritish Home Championship and then, towards the end of hostilities, was appointed to take charge of Victory internationals betweenEngland and allied national teams. He retired from the Football League list in November 1944 but was still in such demand amongst foreign Football Associations that he was selected to officiate throughout Europe; inBarcelona for aSpain versusArgentina game in 1947, and also taking charge of matches in 1949 inStockholm (betweenSweden andHungary), and inGeneva andLisbon. In 1948 the Football League took the unusual step of recalling Reader from retirement to referee theBrentford versusChelsea fixture atGriffin Park. His swansong, at the age of 50, appeared to be the Rest of Europe versus Great Britain representative match atHampden Park, held to celebrate the "blessed Peace", but in 1949 England qualified for theFIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.
As an adjunct to England's participation, FIFA requested that a team of British match officials journey to Brazil for the1950 FIFA World Cup. Despite reservations about his advanced age, Reader's international experience had placed him amongst thosethe Football Association could call on, and he was selected alongsideMervyn (Sandy) Griffiths (of Wales),George Mitchell (of Scotland) and the two English refereesReg Leafe andArthur Ellis.
Given charge of the opening match, Reader's powers of control were put to the test just afterBrazil scored their first goal againstMexico. As was the custom, the goal heralded a mass invasion by reporters demanding immediate responses from goalscorer and goalkeeper. Ellis, watching on, later wrote, in his bookThe Final Whistle: "How could any one man restore law and order? Somehow, George Reader did just that within a few minutes. He cleared the pitch almost single-handed and re-started the World Cup curtain-raiser as if it were an end-of-the-season fixture in theYorkshire League." In their next match against theSwiss, the Brazilians voiced their criticisms of the Spanish referee,Ramón Azon Roma, stating that he had cost them victory (Jacques Fatton equalising in the 88th minute[5]) and, as a result, the editor of a daily newspaper inSão Paulo,Gazeta Esportivo, sang the praises of the British referees, telling his readers that even if they were to face England, Brazil would demand a British referee. "We must strongly demand that Brazil shall not take the field again in this World Championship if a British referee is not in charge. Even should we finally meet the English we shall still demand a British referee and have full confidence in him", he wrote. With England's early exit this unlikely event was averted. However, all four matches that Brazil played thereafter were refereed by one of the British contingent.
So, as Brazil won their way through to the final match, and as public expectation grew so much that it threatened to engulf even the massiveMaracanã, each Brazilian game came to be refereed by one of the British team, including the decisive match of the final group stage.
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Reader had refereed two matches prior to the final group: the opening game (in which Brazil beat Mexico) andUruguay's thrashing of theBolivians in Group 4; but it was to be in his appointment to the final Brazilian game that he would secure his place in history. Although there was no provision for a final deciding match in this tournament, the last game of the tournament (albeit played at the same time as theSweden vSpain fixture) was the determining fixture. Reader was appointed to referee this match, with Ellis and Mitchell running the lines. On the day of the final, Reader was 53 years and 236 days old, significantly older than any referee who officiated in theFIFA World Cup final at any other tournament.
Approximate recordings for the attendance that day differ wildly. FIFA consider that there were 174,000 people there; although other estimates indicate that there may have been between 199,854 and as many as 250,000 (which would have been more people than lived in Reader's Southampton at the time). In any event, it is the highest recorded attendance at a football match in history.
In the 47th minute of the gameObdulio Varela of Uruguay took the ball out of the net afterFriaça's goal had put Brazil 1–0 up. Varela strode up to Reader and started arguing incomprehensibly in Spanish to the monolingual referee. By the time Reader had waved play to begin again, the crowd had settled and Varela had issued the rousing cry: "Now, it's time to win!" Brazil lost in such a shocking, emotional manner that suicides were reported at the stadium, andJules Rimet would comment (about the lack of noise from the massed banks of theMaracanã): "The silence was morbid, sometimes too difficult to bear."
Uruguay went on to win and Reader returned home to Hanley Road in Southampton and promptly retired from refereeing, stating that he had had everything that football can give him. He ended his teaching career as headmaster of Western School,Shirley, in 1960.[citation needed]
George Reader became a director, and later chairman, ofSouthampton in 1963, and sat besideHM The Queen whenLawrie McMenemy's side won the1976 FA Cup Final, dying on the anniversary of the first World Cup matches two years later.[2]
| Preceded by | FIFA World Cup final match referees 1950  George Reader | Succeeded by |
