Rudolf Kreitlein

Rudolf Kreitlein (born November 14, 1919 in Fürth ; † July 31, 2012 in Stuttgart ) was a German football referee . Together with Ken Aston , he invented the red and yellow cards in football in 1966 .

Life

Kreitlein was born in Fürth in 1919. The master tailor began his career as a referee in 1937. During World War II , he was taken prisoner by the Americans. During this time he trained referees in the USA, among other things. After the war he was initially a player-coach at FV Kirchheim / N and from 1949 a contract player at Stuttgarter SC until he had to end his football career in 1951 due to a meniscus injury . He was then again active as an arbitrator. Kreitlein headed a total of 18 international matches, including two games at the 1966 World Cup . In 1965 he whistled the World Cup final between Inter Milan and CA Independiente . Another important game that Kreitlein was in charge of as referee was the 1966 European Cup final between Real Madrid and FK Partizan Belgrade .

In the 1950s and 1960s, Kreitlein was one of the most famous referees in the world. Already in the 1963/64 season he headed 13 German Bundesliga games. Kreitlein ended his international career as a referee in 1967 when he reached the age limit; However, directed Bundesliga games until 1969. In total, he headed 66 games in the first Bundesliga and five games in the DFB Cup . Between 1955 and 1963 he was also used as a referee in seven games of the German football championship of the DFB and in nine promotion rounds to the 1st Bundesliga.

Football World Cup 1966 and the invention of the yellow and red cards

The highlight of Kreitlein's career was his nomination by FIFA for the 1966 World Cup in England. He headed two games at this World Cup tournament: first in the preliminary round the match between the Soviet Union and Italy and later in the quarter-finals the game between hosts England and Argentina . On the line, Kreitlein assisted the European referee legends Gottfried Dienst and István Zsolt during the quarter-finals . Dienst later directed the final between England and Germany .

The game was aggressive from the start, so Kreitlein had already cautioned three Argentinians and two Englishmen when he sent Argentina captain Antonio Rattín off in the 35th minute . He ran after him and yelled at him. Kreitlein had taken this as an insult, although he did not understand Spanish. "He read that from the expression on his face, the German referee later said." Rattin, who spoke no German and English, had only requested an interpreter and refused to leave the field. English policemen had to lead the gigantic Rattín from the square. Kreitlein, who is only 1.68 meters tall, received the affectionately mocking nickname "brave little tailor" after the game.

After the game, referee's British supervisor Ken Aston was on his way to the hotel when he had to stop at a traffic light. He had the idea that red and yellow cards could be an international means of communication in football and discussed them with Kreitlein the next day. He presented the proposal to FIFA, which accepted it and implemented it in 1970.

Kreitlein was designated as referee for the 1966 World Cup final, but was not allowed to lead it because one of the finalists was Germany.

Web links

• Rudolf Kreitlein's missions on weltfussball.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DFB mourns the loss of FIFA referee Rudolf Kreitlein , dfb.de from August 1, 2012 (accessed August 4, 2012).
2. ↑ Klaus Schlütter: Card inventor: How Rudolf Kreitlein revolutionized football . In: Die Welt , November 13, 2009 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Uwe Wicher: The man who brought the yellow and red cards into play . In: Sächsische Zeitung , 14./15. November 2009, p. 4.