Some Famous Referees

In the earliest years of the Football Association referees and umpires were drawn from the ranks of current players. Charles Alcock, for example umpired in international matches before participating as a player. In the 1880s Major Marindin bestrode the world of refereeing like a colossus.  As football's mass appeal burgeoned  the referees themselves became celebrities. As the illustration above shows the favoured uniform was tweed plus fours and a deerstalker.


Arthur Kingscott
From Long Eaton, Mr Kingscott refereed in 3 FA Cup Final matches (1900 and 1901, including the replay). He officiated for 14 seasons in the Football League. There was controversy when he made a call on a goal line incident resulting in a Sheffield United goal when he was distant from the action.

Patrick Harrower
Mr Harrower took charge of the 1905 FA Cup Final. He was a Scottish Rugby Union internationalist. He refereed international matches on the continent.

A. J Barker
Hanley's Mr Barker refereed the 1904 FA Cup Final.
On the opening day of the 1906 season Mr Barker (whose moustache is worthy of note) oversaw a game between Manchester City and Woolwich Arsenal in which 5 City players left the pitch due to the effects of the 32C temperature.

John Adams
In charge at the 1903 FA Cup Final.

John Lewis
In his distinguished career the Prince of Referees took charge of 3 FA Cup Finals (1895,1897 & 1898) and 9 internationals, including  2 Olympic Finals (1908 &1920). The 1920 Final was a shambles and the Czechs, having walked off in the 40th minute, were extremely critical of the performance of the 65 year old Mr Lewis.

Tom Kirkham
Mr Kirkham officiated in 3 internationals and the 1902 FA Cup Final (including the replay). This is the referee pursued by William Foulke in the legendary story.

Clash of Colours, 1882

When we think of the professional football clubs of the industrialized north that came to dominate the game in the 1880s, it is easy to consider them as being an entirely different entity from the southern clubs of the amateur gentlemen. There was, however, a thread that linked many of the clubs of Lancashire to the public schools from which Association football had developed in the 1860s.
Turton, probably the first Lancashire side, were founded by Old Harrovians (of which more later). The case we will look at here is that of the team that really put the cat among the pigeons by reaching the FA Cup Final in 1882, Blackburn Rovers.

1878:Notice in the picture above how there is inconsistency in the jerseys.

The 'quartered ' shirts and the Maltese Cross motif that Rovers wore in the early days pointed to their (surprising) public school origins. Founder  Arthur Constantine was an Old Salopian (Shewsbury). 

Shrewsbury School, 1912

According to Charles Francis in The History of Blackburn Rovers (1925) several of the 17 present at the  St Leger Hotel On 5th November 1875 were young fellows who had just finished their education at public schools. 
The stipulation in setting out the club livery was that a Maltese cross be worn on the left breast This motif was worn by both the Shrewsbury and Malvern school teams.

Malvern College

Malvern College  provided Rovers with players such as the Greenwood brothers (Thomas, Harry and Doctor) and Fred Hargreaves.

Blackburn Rovers' strip remains one of the most readily recognisable in the world of football, and was much imitated. However, when their first chance of glory came as they reached the FA Cup Final in 1882 they were denied the opportunity of wearing their famous strip.The 11th FA Cup Final was the first to necessitate a change of colours.
John Lewis recalls a letter from Alcock- there is no evidence that a coin was tossed or any lots were drawn in order to decide who changed kit- Rovers were instructed, by letter. Lewis was convinced that this was a bad omen. Rovers also requested assistance with their travelling expenses; the FA declined.

On the day Rovers wore narrow black and white  hoops in the mode of Queen's Park. Old Etonians wore harlequin shirts of light blue and white (a departure from their previous plain light blue). 

The FA Tour of Australia, 1925

At the end of the 1924-25 season the Football Association sent a touring party to Australia under the leadership of Mr John Lewis, by now something of a Grand Old Man of the game.
Billed in the local press, of course, as 'England' the tourists enjoyed a 100% success record and averaged 5.5 goals per game. There were 4 'Test Matches' against Australia (these were not recognised as full internationals).

07.05.25	Perth Metropolitan XI	0	8	FA XI	Perth
09.05.25	Western Australia	0	7	FA XI	Fremantle
14.05.25	South Australia	0	10	FA XI	Adelaide
16.05.25	Australia XI	1	4	FA XI	Thebarton
20.05.25	Victoria	0	7	FA XI	Melbourne
23.05.25	Australia XI	0	5	FA XI	Melbourne
30.05.25	New South Wales	2	3	FA XI	Sydney
03.06.25	Sydney Metropolis	1	3	FA XI	Sydney
06.06.25	Illawarra District	0	8	FA XI	Wollongong
08.06.25	New South Wales	1	4	FA XI	Sydney
13.06.25	Northern Districts	0	6	FA XI	Newcastle
17.06.25	Ipswich and District	0	3	FA XI	Ipswich
20.06.25	Queensland	0	11	FA XI	Brisbane
24.06.25	North Queensland	0	9	FA XI	Bundaberg
27.06.25	Australia	1	5	FA XI	Brisbane
29.06.25	Toowoomba	0	6	FA XI	Toowoomba
04.07.25	Australia	1	2	FA XI	Sydney
08.07.25	Newcastle	0	3	FA XI	Newcastle
11.07.25	Australia	2	8	FA XI	Maitland
15.07.25	South Maitland	1	4	FA XI	Cessnock
18.07.25	Australia	0	5	FA XI	Sydney
21.07.25	Granville District	1	6	FA XI	Parramatta
25.07.25	Australia	0	2	FA XI	Melbourne
01.08.25	Western Australia	1	5	FA XI	Fremantle
03.08.25	Western Australia	1	5	FA XI	Perth

P	W	D	L	F	A
25	25			139	13

GK	Teddy Davison*	The Wednesday
	Harry Hardy*	Stockport County
FB	Stan Charlton	Exeter City
	Joe Hannah	Norwich City
	Cecil Poynton	Tottenham Hotspur
HB	Jimmy Hamilton	Crystal Palace
	Len Graham*	Millwall
	Billy Sage	Tottenham Hotspur
	Tom Whittaker	Arsenal
CH	Bill Caesar**	Dulwich Hamlet ***
	Charlie Spencer*	Newcastle United
IF	Jimmy Walsh	Liverpool
	Jack Elkes	Tottenham Hotspur
	Bert Batten	Plymouth Argyle
	Billy Williams	West Ham United
CF	Ernie Simms [c]*	Stockport County
OF	Charlie Hannaford	Clapton Orient
	Stan Seymour	Newcastle United

* full internationalist
** amateur internationalist

The 18 players were from the following Divisions:
Div 1- 8
Div 2- 5
Div 3- 4
Isthmian League- 1***
 *** Caesar was 'on the books' at Darlington (Div 3) in the 1924-25 season but didn't make any first team appearances.

Bert Batten- scorer of  47 goals during the tour 

John Lewis was never one to shy away from controversy. He reported the  Australian FA  for paying  their players £1 per day, a £5 bonus and broken time payments. Mr Lewis also disapproved of their use of substitutes.