Jack Taylor (referee)
.jpg) Taylor in 1975 | |||
| Full name | John Keith Taylor | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
21 May 1930[a] Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England | ||
| Died |
27 July 2012 (aged 82) Shifnal, Shropshire, England | ||
| Other occupation | Butcher | ||
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1963–1977 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
John Keith Taylor
Refereeing career
Taylor left school aged 14 and worked in his father's butcher's shop. There he met Jim Lock, secretary of the local football referees' association branch, who encouraged him to train as a referee. Taylor qualified as a class 3 referee, and refereed his first game when aged 17.[1] With help from Lock and other prominent Midlands football officials, Taylor progressed to officiating at 70 to 80 matches a season in local leagues. In 1953, he was nominated by the Birmingham FA to be a linesman in a forthcoming international in France.[1]
Aged 25, he became the youngest linesman on the English Football League's list, running the line in a Division Three South match between Coventry City and Bournemouth in August 1955.[1] Some three years later, he was promoted to the supplementary list of league referees, officiating at a Fourth Division match between Southport and Hartlepool United. In 1962, aged 31, he refereed the FA Amateur Cup final at Wembley Stadium (Crook Town versus Hounslow Town), and was also promoted by the FA to the FIFA international panel.[1]
In 1964 he refereed a match between
1974 World Cup Final
Taylor was awarded the final between hosts West Germany and the Netherlands, played at Olympiastadion, Munich on 7 July 1974.[6]
The kick off had to be delayed when Taylor spotted the ground staff had forgotten to put the corner flags out on the pitch. They had been removed to accommodate the closing ceremony which took place before the final. After just a minute of play he created World Cup history when he awarded a penalty kick, the first ever awarded in a World Cup final. The Netherlands were given a penalty after Uli Hoeneß threw himself into a challenge just on the right edge of the German penalty area, felling Johan Cruyff; it was successfully converted by Johan Neeskens.[6]
In the 26th minute, he awarded a second penalty, this time to West Germany, penalising Dutch midfielder Wim Jansen for tripping German left midfielder Bernd Hölzenbein.[6] As the teams walked off the pitch at half-time, Cruyff was cautioned for arguing with Taylor,[7] the last of four players cautioned by Taylor during the final.[8]
Taylor said of the incidents:
- "The first penalty wasn't difficult to call. All I remember is thinking it was a 100% correct decision. As the ball went on the spot the whole stadium went quiet. Beckenbauer, the German skipper, came to me and said 'Taylor, you're an Englishman'. The kick went in and there was complete euphoria."[9]
- "What really does annoy me is the suggestion that I gave [the second penalty] to even things up. It was a trip or an attempted trip and the laws of the game are that's a penalty."[9]
Later career
Taylor later recalled: "I literally did swap my butcher's apron for the whistle to take charge of the World Cup final."
After closing his butcher's shop he spent two seasons refereeing in Brazil before returning to England to become Commercial Director at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1979. He was sacked in August 1982 when a new consortium took charge of the club. Taylor later became a refereeing coach in South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and Brazil.[9][11]
Honours
Taylor was awarded an OBE in the
According to his obituary in The Independent:[4]
Not that Taylor didn't possess a sense of humour, as he demonstrated after being badly cut in the face by a penny thrown from a bank of Luton Town fans at Kenilworth Road. When Eric Morecambe, the comedian and national treasure who also happened to be a Luton director, asked him if he was going to report the incident, the referee said he wasn't, and Morecambe replied: "Good, now can I have my penny back?" Taylor roared with laughter, and recounted the story for the rest of his life.
Personal life
Taylor was born at 33 Sweetman Street in Wolverhampton, the son of a butcher, Albert Taylor, and his wife, Olive Gertrude (née Lane).[1] Taylor grew up above the butcher's shop next to Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux home, and later managed the family business while continuing to referee at weekends.[13]
Taylor married twice. In November 1956 he married a butcher's daughter, Hazel Mary Whitehouse (b. 1932). They had two sons and two daughters, but later divorced. In 1982, he married Susan Millicent Spann (b. 1933).[1]
Taylor served as a lay magistrate in Wolverhampton for 25 years, and was a greyhound owner and National Greyhound Racing Club steward, and a steward at Wolverhampton Racecourse.[1]
He died of pneumonia at his Shropshire home at Lower Upton, Shifnal,[14] on 27 July 2012, aged 82.[4]
In 2016 his biography was included among 222 new entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.[13]
Books
- Soccer Refereeing : A Personal View, Jack Taylor (January 1978, Faber & Faber) ISBN 0-571-11299-4[15]
- Jack Taylor, World Soccer Referee, David Jones & Jack Taylor (January 1976, Pelham Books) ISBN 0-7207-0890-7[16]
Notes
References
- ^ required.)
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8108-8743-5.
- ^ "Jack Taylor, international football referee". eu-football.info.
- ^ a b c "Jack Taylor: Referee best known for awarding the first penalty in a World Cup final". The Independent. 29 July 2012.
- ^ "Jack Taylor OBE, referee of 1974 World Cup final, dead aged 82". www.dailytelegraph.co.uk. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ a b c "The greatest World Cup tragedies: Holland 1974". The Score. 6 June 2014. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ "West Germans on top of the World". Glasgow Herald (Page 4). 8 July 1974. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
- ^ Netherlands 1-2 Germany FR. 1974 FIFA World Cup Germany. Accessed: 17 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d Aitchison, Neil (6 July 2006). "World Cup Final 'changed my life'". BBC News. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ a b "World Cup final referee Taylor dies aged 82". www.fourfourtwo.com. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
- ^ "Jack Taylor obituary". The Guardian. 29 July 2012.
- ^ "Hall of Fame Inductees Announced". Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- ^ a b "Jack Taylor: The World Cup Final referee from Wolverhampton who knew no fear". Express & Star. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ Evans, Harriet (26 May 2021). "Jack Taylor's World Cup watch going under the hammer". Express & Star. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ van Maaren, Ben. "Soccer Refereeing. A Personal View – Jack Taylor". Refereeing Books. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ "Jack Taylor - World Soccer Referee". ABE Books. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
