William Ling (referee)
William Ling (born 1 August 1908 – died 8 May 1984) was an English football referee who refereed the 1954 FIFA World Cup Final.
1951 FA Cup Final
Ling was from Cambridgeshire; and refereed the FA Cup final in 1951 in which Newcastle United beat Blackpool with two Jackie Milburn goals. On the day of the Final, Ling, spotted a policeman as he arrived at Wembley Stadium. He recognised him as a player he had sent off previously during a Sunday league fixture and as he passed him, said: “Now what do you think?” The officer replied “I still think you are no f***ing good!”: [1]
1954 World Cup
The 1954 World Cup was his first and only international tournament. He was one of a group of four referees appointed from the United Kingdom for the tournament. The others were Benjamin Mervyn Griffiths from Wales, Arthur Ellis from Yorkshire and Charles Edward Faultless (Scotland). In the course of the tournament, Ling had already refereed the Group match between Hungary and West Germany (in which the Hungarians had won 8-3) and had assisted Arthur Ellis during the Battle of Berne quarter-final. In the final he was assisted by Griffiths and the Italian Vincenzo Orlandini.
Final
Ling's part in the final became partially controversial because he accepted Griffith's flag in the final minutes to deny Ferenc Puskás which would have resulted in Hungary sending the game into extra-time. Observers felt that Puskás was not offside when the ball was passed to him.
The Miracle of Bern
The final match itself (between Hungary and West Germany became the subject of a German film Miracle of Bern in which the story of the match is told. Joachim Floryszak, a non-League German football referee and civil servant, starred as Ling after contacting the director Söhnke Wortmann begging to be given a place in the film.