George Reader

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George Reader
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(s)
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
George Reader
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 the fourth man to referee a FIFA World Cup Final, the first Englishman (one of only 10 match officials from the United Kingdom) to do so, and the oldest match official at any World Cup in history. He hailed from Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

Early career

By profession he was a schoolmaster, going to St Luke's teacher training college (the same one that

Exeter University
.

Finding work in Exeter as a young teacher, Reader first played as an

centre-forward to Bill 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 old

Harland and Wolff for a year, and then playing on the Isle of Wight at Cowes until 1930, commuting on the ferry from his job as an assistant schoolmaster in Southampton.[1]

Refereeing

He first took up refereeing in 1930, appearing on

the Football League, and three years later was invited to referee their matches in season 1939–40. Unfortunately, that season was abandoned after three games, due to the start of the Second World War, and therefore Reader officially only refereed three Football League matches in his whole career.[3]

However, during hostilities, Reader featured prominently in wartime football, and was appointed as referee in two

Geneva and Lisbon. In 1948 the Football League took the unusual step of recalling Reader from retirement to referee the Brentford versus Chelsea fixture at Griffin Park. His swansong, at the age of 50, appeared to be the Rest of Europe versus Great Britain representative match at Hampden Park, held to celebrate the "blessed Peace", but in 1949 England qualified for the FIFA World Cup
finals in Brazil.

1950 FIFA World Cup

As an adjunct to England's participation, FIFA requested that a team of British match officials journey to Brazil for the

Mervyn (Sandy) Griffiths (of Wales), George Mitchell (of Scotland) and the two English referees Reg Leafe and Arthur Ellis
.

Given charge of the opening match, Reader's powers of control were put to the test just after

Sao 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 massive

Maracanã
, each Brazilian game came to be refereed by one of the British team, including the decisive match of the final group stage.

The decisive game (Uruguay vs Brazil)

Main article: Uruguay v Brazil (1950 FIFA World Cup)

Reader had refereed two matches prior to the final group: the opening game (in which Brazil beat Mexico) and

Sweden v Spain 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 the FIFA 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 game

Maracanã
): "The silence was morbid, sometimes too difficult to bear."

Retirement

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, of

1976 FA Cup Final, passing away on the anniversary of the very first World Cup matches two years later.[1]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-9514862-3-3
    .
  2. ISBN 0-907969-22-4
    .
  3. ASIN
    B0000CLLRB.
  4. ^ Brazil v. Switzerland, 1950 World Cup: Planet World Cup website.

External links

Preceded by
1950
England
George Reader 		Succeeded by
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