Reg Leafe

Reginald James "Reg" Leafe (born December 15, 1914 , † 2001 ) was a British football referee . As a representative of the English Football Association , he gained national fame by directing finals at the World Cups in 1950 and 1958 and European Cup games in the 1950s and 1960s.

Career

As a youth himself a football player, Leafe took over the post of referee after ending his career due to injury. After gaining his first experience in friendly games in the late 1940s , he led two games at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, in the final round he was entrusted with the 6-1 victory of the host Brazilians over Spain . Eight years later, his home association sent him to the World Cup finals for a second time, this time to Sweden. There he whistled two games - including the quarter-final match between the host Swedes and the Soviet Union team . Ironically, the host was runner-up in both tournaments, and to date (as of 2012) these are the only two World Cup finals with this fact. In 1960 he was also a referee at the Summer Olympics .

In 1955 Leafe had underpinned his outstanding position among the English referees and had been entrusted with the final of the English men's soccer cup between Newcastle United and Manchester City , which the Magpies won with a 3-1 victory.

Leafe also made a lasting impression on the football books with his performance in the European Cup. In the European Cup of National Champions in 1960/61 , he took over the second leg between the defending champion and to date the sole competition winner Real Madrid and the Catalan competitor FC Barcelona , the first leg had ended with a 2-2 draw. In the second leg he denied recognition for a total of four goals - three decisions were made to the disadvantage of the royal team, who were eliminated from the competition after the 2-1 defeat. In the semifinals, he led the second leg between Rapid Vienna and Benfica Lisbon , after a penalty was refused for the Austrians, there were riots when the score was 1: 1, the match was canceled in the 88th minute as the first European Cup game.

Web links

• Entry Leafes at worldreferee.com (English)