View source for George Reader

{{Short description|English football referee (1896–1978)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2007}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name     = George Reader
| fullname       = 
| birth_date     = 22 November 1896
| birth_place    = [[Nuneaton]], [[Warwickshire]], England
| death_date     = {{death date and age|1978|7|13|1896|11|22|df=y}}
| death_place    = [[Southampton]], England
| height         = 
| position       = [[Centre-forward]]
| youthyears1    =
| youthclubs1    = St Luke's College, Exeter
| years1         = 1919–1920
| clubs1         = [[Exeter City F.C.|Exeter City]]
| caps1          = 1
| goals1         = 1
| years2         = 1920–1921
| clubs2         = [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]]
| caps2          = 3
| goals2         = 0
| years3         = 1921–1922
| clubs3         = Harland and Wolff
| caps3          =
| goals3         =
| years4         = 1922–1930
| clubs4         = [[Cowes Sports F.C.|Cowes]]
| caps4          =
| goals4         =
}}
{{Infobox football official
|                name = George Reader
|            fullname = 
|     otheroccupation = [[School teacher|Schoolteacher]]
|              years1 = 1936–1939
|             league1 = [[The Football League|Football League]]
|               role1 = [[Assistant referee (association football)|Linesman]]
|              years2 = 1939–1944
|             league2 = Football League
|               role2 = [[Referee (association football)|Referee]]
|              years3 = 1948–1950
|             league3 = Football League
|               role3 = Referee
| internationalyears1 = 1944–1950
|      confederation1 = [[FIFA International Referees List|FIFA listed]]
|  internationalrole1 = Referee
}}

'''George Reader''' (22 November 1896 – 13 July 1978) was an English football referee, known for officiating in the [[1950 FIFA World Cup]] Final. He is the first [[England|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 [[Ken Aston]] was to attend) just after the [[World War I|First World War]] in [[Exeter]]. St. Luke's is now part of [[Exeter University]].

Finding work in Exeter as a young teacher, Reader first played as an [[Amateur sports|amateur]] for [[Exeter City F.C.|Exeter City]] in the [[Southern Football League]], in the [[1919–20 in English football|1919–20]] season. It was with that club that he played in a friendly against [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]] on 3 January 1920, a week before the third round of the [[FA Cup]].<ref name = "ABC">{{cite book | title=The Alphabet of the Saints|last= Holley |first= Duncan |last2= Chalk|first2= Gary| publisher= ACL & Polar Publishing | year=1992| isbn=0-9514862-3-3|page=280}}</ref> Reader scored and impressed the visiting side so much that they signed him for a fee of £50, as a handy replacement [[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 [[Third Division (South)]]<ref>{{cite book | title=Saints – A complete record|last= Chalk|first= Gary|last2=Holley|first2= Duncan | publisher= Breedon Books| year=1987| isbn= 0-907969-22-4|pages=64–65}}</ref> before moving to [[Harland and Wolff]] for a year, and then playing on the [[Isle of Wight]] at [[Cowes Sports F.C.|Cowes]] until 1930, commuting on the ferry from his job as an assistant schoolmaster in Southampton.<ref name = "ABC"/>

==Refereeing==
He first took up refereeing in 1930, appearing on [[Southampton Common]],<ref name = "ABC"/> and progressed through the promotional system with an alacrity that underlined his ability and experience. Within six seasons he was running the line in [[the Football League]], and three years later was invited to referee their matches in season [[1939–40 in English football|1939–40]]. Unfortunately, that season was abandoned after three games, due to the start of the [[World War II|Second World War]], and therefore Reader officially only refereed three Football League matches in his whole career.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Arthur Edward Ellis |first=Arthur |last=Ellis |title=The Final Whistle |publisher= S Paul Publishers |year=1962 |id=[[ASIN]] B0000CLLRB}}</ref>

However, during hostilities, Reader featured prominently in wartime football, and was appointed as referee in two [[Football League War Cup|War Cup]] finals and the [[British Home Championship]] and then, towards the end of hostilities, was appointed to take charge of Victory internationals between [[England national football team|England]] 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; in [[Estadi del FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] for a [[Spain national football team|Spain]] versus [[Argentina national football team|Argentina]] game in 1947, and also taking charge of matches in 1949 in [[Råsunda Stadium|Stockholm]] (between [[Sweden men's national football team|Sweden]] and [[Hungary national football team|Hungary]]), and in [[Stade des Charmilles|Geneva]] and [[Estádio José Alvalade|Lisbon]]. In 1948 the Football League took the unusual step of recalling Reader from retirement to referee the [[Brentford F.C.|Brentford]] versus [[Chelsea F.C.|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 [[1950 FIFA World Cup]]. Despite reservations about his advanced age, Reader's international experience had placed him amongst those [[the Football Association]] could call on, and he was selected alongside [[Mervyn (Sandy) Griffiths]] (of Wales), [[George Mitchell (referee)|George Mitchell]] (of Scotland) and the two English referees [[Reg Leafe]] and [[Arthur Edward Ellis|Arthur Ellis]].

Given charge of the opening match, Reader's powers of control were put to the test just after [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]] scored their first goal against [[Mexico national football team|Mexico]]. 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 book ''The 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 the [[Yorkshire Football League|Yorkshire League]]." In their next match against the [[Switzerland national football team|Swiss]], 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<ref>[http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1950/wc50groupa.html Brazil v. Switzerland], 1950 World Cup: ''Planet World Cup'' website.</ref>) and, as a result, the editor of a daily newspaper in [[São 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 [[Estádio do Maracanã|Maracanã]], each Brazilian game came to be refereed by one of the British team, including the decisive match of the final group stage.

===Decisive game (Uruguay vs Brazil)===
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2012}}
{{main|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 [[Uruguay national football team|Uruguay]]'s thrashing of the [[Bolivia national football team|Bolivians]] 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 the [[Sweden men's national football team|Sweden]] v [[Spain national football team|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 [[Obdulio Varela]] of Uruguay took the ball out of the net after [[Friaça]]'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, and [[Jules Rimet]] would comment (about the lack of noise from the massed banks of the [[Estádio do Maracanã|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, Southampton|Shirley]], in 1960.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}

George Reader became a director, and later chairman, of [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]] in 1963, and sat beside [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|HM The Queen]] when [[Lawrie McMenemy]]'s side won the [[1976 FA Cup Final]], passing away on the anniversary of the very first World Cup matches two years later.<ref name = "ABC"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140714181819/http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/feature-st-george-of-maracana-09072014-1731520.aspx Feature on Southampton FC website] (archived)
* {{WorldFootball.net referee}}
* {{EU-Football.info referee}}

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
 | before = {{flagicon|FRA}} [[Georges Capdeville]]
 |  after = {{flagicon|ENG}} [[William Ling (referee)|William Ling]]
 |  title = [[FIFA World Cup]] final match referees
 |  years = '''[[1950 FIFA World Cup Final|1950]] <br /> {{flagicon|ENG}} George Reader'''
}}
{{S-end}}
{{FIFA World Cup Final referees}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reader, George}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:Footballers from Nuneaton]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:English men's footballers]]
[[Category:Southern Football League players]]
[[Category:English Football League players]]
[[Category:Exeter City F.C. players]]
[[Category:Southampton F.C. players]]
[[Category:Cowes Sports F.C. players]]
[[Category:English football referees]]
[[Category:FIFA World Cup finals match officials]]
[[Category:1950 FIFA World Cup referees]]
[[Category:Southampton F.C. directors and chairmen]]
[[Category:Men's association football forwards]]
[[Category:20th-century English sportsmen]]