TRAFFIC LIGHTS

 

This is Ken Aston who following an incident in the England v Argentina match in the 1966 World Cup, it came to Aston's knowledge that Jack Charlton had been booked by the German referee, Rudolf Kreitlein. Charlton called the press office, where Aston was ensconced as Head of World Cup Referees, in order to confirm the information that he had read in the newspaper that Kreitlein had booked him. Aston, driving from Wembley Stadium to Lancaster Gate that same evening, had Charlton's confusion in mind during the journey.

On the trip, as he stopped at a traffic light junction at Kensington High Street, Aston realised that a colour-coding scheme for football based on the same amber/yellow ('stop if safe to do so') and  red (stop) principle as used on traffic lights would traverse language barriers and clarify to players and spectators that they had been cautioned or sent off.

Aston later explained to his wife, Hilda, that idea upon arriving at his home. She disappeared into another room, only to return a few minutes later with two "cards" made of construction paper. She had cut them to fit into his shirt pocket. Thus was devised the system whereby referees show a Yellow card for a caution and a Red card for an expulsion, first used in the 1970 World Cup. 

In 1976, on Saturday October 2nd, two players were red carded in the Football League for the first time. Firstly, David Wagstaff of Blackburn Rovers, in a Second Division match at Orient, was "red carded" after 36 minutes for arguing with the ref. The second red card came after 67 minutes of another Second Division game when George Best of Fulham was sent off against Southampton following foul language.

The card scheme has also been adopted – with appropriate differences depending on the rules – in many other sports too.

Born in Colchester, Aston graduated from the teacher training college, St Luke's, Exeter, where George Reader had also been taught just after the First World War and in which Sir Stanley Rous also studied.  qualified as a referee in 1936, working his way through the leagues to become a Football League linesman in the 1949-50 season and then a League referee. In the Second World War he was rejected by the RAF due to an injured ankle, but was taken by the Royal Artillery before transferring to the British India Army, where he finished the war with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

On his return from military service in 1946, Aston became the first League referee to wear the black uniform with white trim which became the standard for referees. Up to that point, referees wore tweed jackets over white shirts with French cuffs, and pants akin to golf knickers!!! 

Aston later explained that when he spied a black flight jacket in the window of a war surplus store, he was delighted with the wonderful assortment of pockets. He immediately bought a couple of the jackets, thinking the pockets would serve him well as a referee. He changed to black knickers, kept the white shirt, and wore the new black flight jacket, creating the black uniform with the apparent white "trim."

The following year (1947), he introduced brightly coloured linesman's flags, one yellow and one red, in place of those provided by the home team, in the home team's colours, which had traditionally been used. He explained that he was reffing a game in the midst of a foggy London day. He said that the colours of the home team were beige and chocolate, colours he was unable to see in the fog. He explained that he went to a war surplus store on the way home, purchased a pair of red and yellow rain slickers and made a set of brightly coloured flags, which he used thereafter, and was never troubled by fog again.

In 1953 he became Head Teacher at a primary school and progressed to refereeing senior Football League matches. Aston refereed the 1963 FA Cup Final (Manchester United v Leicester City).

In 1966 Aston also introduced the practice of naming a substitute referee who could take over in the case of the referee being unable to continue for any reason, this eventually evolved into the practice of having a designated fourth official. He was also credited for the improvement of refereeing beginning with the World cup 1970 in Mexico through his efforts to bring about uniformity. He then made headlines when he reffed the  infamous, "Battle of Santiago" between Chile and Italy in the 1972 World Cup.

Aston successfully proposed that the pressure of the ball should be specified in the Laws of the Game. In 1974, he introduced the number board for substitutes, so that players could easily understand who was being substituted.

Aston taught many training courses, including a series of films that was recorded for novice referees, called, "Refereeing is thinking." 

He was appointed to the FIFA Referees' Committee for eight years, chairing it for four. He was in charge of all referees for the 1966, 1970 and 1974 World Cups.