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Fluitend door de wereld – Whistling through the World – John Langenus
Outline To my knowledge, this fragile, weather-stained book (printed in WWII, so the paper is of sub-par quality) is the first set of memoirs ever written by a football referee. Belgian John Langenus’ principal claim to fame rests on his being the referee of the final of the first World Cup in 1930. In this […]
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Play to the Whistle! – Jim Wiltshire
Outline Jim Wiltshire was the referee of the 1947 FA Cup Final. This appointment marked the end of a long career on the pitches of England, which career had been broken by World War II, as was the case for many in football at the time. Wiltshire’s account is interesting in that it started in […]
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How to Referee
If you’re reading this, chances are you are or at some point were an active referee. Have you ever stopped to think how easy it has been for you to become a ref? Regular courses, good instructors, mentors, plenty of books available, feedback at referees’ associations… You name it. Now imagine how that was in the […]
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One more then
Thanks to Stephen from @collectfootball, I can now add a fourth language to my ever-growing collection of refereeing publications. This one is a booklet from 1947, printed in what was then still the USSR: Futbol: Pravila Igry It’s small, but isn’t it so that the greatest things come in small packages? Oh, it deals with the […]
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More additions
The following two books also joined my collection recently: Livewire Investigates… Being a Referee and: Athletiek en Voetbal by Pim Mulier This is now the oldest book in my collection, as it dates back to 1896!
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