Arthur Drewry

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Arthur Drewry
President of FIFA
In office
7 October 1955 – 25 March 1961
Preceded byRodolphe Seeldrayers
Succeeded byErnst Thommen (as acting)
Stanley Rous (elected)
Member of the Grimsby Borough Council[clarification needed]
In office
?–?
Personal details
Born(1891-03-03)3 March 1891
Grimsby, England
Died25 March 1961(1961-03-25) (aged 70)
SpouseIda May (m. 1919)
Children2
OccupationFootball administrator

Arthur Drewry

The Football League
.

Biography

Drewry was born in

Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and educated at the Grimsby Collegiate School.[1]

In 1911 Drewry joined the Lincolnshire Yeomanry and served in the

English football administration

Drewry's career in football administration began with his serving as a director of

Football League from 1949 to 1955.[1] Drewry served on the Football Association's International Selection Committee from 1944, and after his presidency of the Football League served as chairman of The Football Association (FA) from 1955 to 1961.[2] Drewry succeeded Amos Brook Hirst as chairman of the FA; Hirst had resigned due to ill health.[3] As chair of the FA Drewry once proposed awarding a point to league teams for every goal scored to encourage offensive football.[4] Drewry's proposals were rejected by the teams.[5]

Drewry played a significant role in the 1950 game between England and the United States in which the English lost 1–0 to the rank outsiders in the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Belo Horizonte.[6] The English national coach, Walter Winterbottom, had wanted to rest some players for the next game against Spain, but was over-ruled by Drewry, acting as sole selector, who chose an unchanged team from their last game, a 2–0 win against Chile.[6] Stanley Rous, Drewry's secretary at the FA, visited him and urged him to include Stanley Matthews and make other changes to the team, but Drewry was adamant in his desire to keep an unchanged team.[7] After the loss against the United States, Drewry acquiesced to four changes to the team, but England lost their next game to Spain 1–0, and as a result were eliminated from the tournament.[7][8]

In 1953 Coronation Honours, Drewry appointed a Commander of Order of the British Empire (CBE).[9]

Following the

Manchester United staff and personnel, Drewry was appointed chairman in March of the fundraising committee for dependents of those involved in the disaster.[10] The funds raised had reached £52,000 (equivalent to £1,290,000 in 2021) by the time of their disbursement in October 1958.[11][12]

In his capacity as chair of the FA, Drewry was one of six football officials sued by five Sunderland players who were suspended in 1957 for refusing to answer questions about possible illegal payments.[13] Stanley Rous served as Drewry's secretary at the FA.[14] Drewry and Rous travelled to Switzerland in 1945, to the headquarters of FIFA to successfully negotiate for the re-admittance of the British Home Nations to FIFA.[2]

President of FIFA

Drewry had been appointed the vice-president of FIFA by

Rodolphe William Seeldrayers.[15] At the 30th FIFA Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, Drewry defeated France's M. Larfarge by 38 votes to 16 for the presidency.[14] Drewry oversaw the 1958 FIFA World Cup during his term in office, and ultimately served as president for five years before his death from a year-long illness in 1961.[14]
Drewry was the third FIFA president to die in office.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Our Association Football Correspondent. "Mr. Arthur Drewry." The Times, London, 27 March 1961, pg 19.
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ Our Association Football Correspondent. "Hazards of the Cup Final.", The Times, London, 7 May 1955, pg. 6
  4. ^ Geoffrey Green Football Correspondent. "Football" The Times, London, 23 August 1975, pg. 21
  5. ^ Geoffrey Green, Football Correspondent. "Bonus points for goals in new U.S. league." The Times, London, 22 March 1967, pg. 8
  6. ^ a b The Guardian, London, 20 March 2003, pg 63.
  7. ^ .
  8. .
  9. ^ "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2954.
  10. ^ The Manchester Guardian, Manchester, 1 April 1958, pg. 12
  11. ^ Our own Reporter, The Manchester Guardian, Manchester, 11 October 1958, 1
  12. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  13. ^ The Guardian, London, 10 October 1959, pg. 2
  14. ^ .
  15. ^ "FIFA Presidents". FIFA. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2014.