Eddie Pearson

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Edward "Eddie" Pearson (born 1928 in Yorkshire , England , United Kingdom ; † September 29, 1978 Atlanta , Georgia , United States ) was an English football referee who began his career as a referee in England before moving to the United States in 1967 States came and continued his career there. In 1990 he was posthumously inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in the official category. The Eddie Pearson Award , which has been awarded annually since 1979 and is given to referees who have a significant share in the nationwide training system in US refereeing, is named after him.

life and career

Eddie Pearson was born in Yorkshire , Northern England in 1928 and started out as a footballer. He was, among other captain of the senior football team at Doncaster College in Doncaster in the county of South Yorkshire , before a career as a football referee in the Football Association began. After years in English football, he moved to the United States in 1967, where he was accepted as a referee for the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). A year later he was named chief referee of the league and in 1973, after he had retired from his active career, was promoted to director of referees for the NPSL. He then held this post until his untimely death in 1978. Before him, the Scot Sir George Graham was responsible for the referee of the league. In 1974 he was appointed referee instructor for North and Central America and the Caribbean , during which time he trained numerous FIFA referees and well-known match officials. He later also played a key role in developing the referee training system for the Georgia State Soccer Association and the United States Soccer Federation . In his honor, the Eddie Pearson Award , which has been awarded annually since 1979, was named after him and is given to referees who have a significant share in the nationwide training system in US refereeing. On September 29, 1978, Pearson died at the age of 50 in a traffic accident through no fault of his own in Atlanta, the capital and largest city of the US state Georgia. His office as referee director of the league took over Don Byron , who was subsequently an integral figure in the computerization of the referee program.

literature

Web links

Footnotes & individual references

  1. ↑ Eddie Pearson on the official website of the American Football Association ( memento of November 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on August 26, 2016
  2. ↑ a b Referee Administrative Handbook (p. 64 ff) (pdf; English), accessed on August 27, 2016
  3. ^ Going Backwards: Ten years of MLS referee development. (English), accessed on August 27, 2016
  4. ↑ A refereeing icon at four score years and five: Pat Smith (English), accessed on August 27, 2016
  5. ↑ FORMER US SOCCER REFEREE DON BYRON PASSES AWAY , accessed August 27, 2016
  6. ↑ According to another report, the Englishman Keith Walker took over the vacancy
personal data
SURNAME Pearson, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pearson, Edward (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English football referee
DATE OF BIRTH 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Yorkshire , England, UK
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1978
Place of death Atlanta , Georgia , United States