KEN AND THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO

Ken Aston, the referee, had been in charge of some controversial matches in his time, and one called the "Battle of Santiago" (below) played during the 1962 World Cup between Chile and Italy, left him with some concern about the practical management of the Laws of the Game. 

He retired from practical refereeing in 1963 following that season's FA Cup Final and was then put in charge of FIFA refereeing. In 1966 at England's World Cup tournament, the infamous quarter-final match between England and Argentina, saw Antonio Ratin, an Argentinian, sent off following "violence of the tongue", even though the German referee, could speak no Spanish and Antonio Rattin, no English. Aston had to come down from the stands, to the pitch and persuade Rattin to leave the field following an 8 minute stubborn  and confused protest. The morning after the match, both Bobby and Jack Charlton read in the newspaper that they had also pilcked a caution by the referee, but only Yellows! Their match manager, Alf Ramsey, read it too and had to clarify the situation with FIFA, just in case something happened in the following World Cup ties!

Aston  was driving home, one day, from work along Kensington High Street, when he was repeatedly stopped by traffic lights and he was giving the signals some thought, which led to him thinking, Yellow-take it easy; Red-finished; He thought that this might be the way to overcoming the problem caused by language differences in football, especially when international matches were being played and language differences were common. Ken got home and discussed it with his colleagues, when eventually the idea was accepted and introduced in the 1970 Mexico tournament with Red and Yellow cards introduced. It did not take long for the first card to be introduced and it was in the opening match of the tournament on May 31st 1970, when Evegny Lovchev of the USSR, was the first player to be cautioned with a Yellow Card and the action was clearly successful as no Reds were used during the whole tournament! Hard to believe isn't it? 

Aston, below, was asked once if any other events stood out in his life? "As a World War 2 soldier", he replied, "I suppose hanging some senior Japanese officers stands out most in my mind!"