WILLIAM LING

Former England football referee William Ling, born in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire, on August 1, 1908, died this day, 6th May in 1984, at the age of 76. He officiated international  matches, including the 1954 World Cup Final. 

Ling rose quickly through the ranks as a referee. He was initially on the supplementary list as a Football League match official but even so, was selected to participate in the 1948 Olympic Games football tournament in England,  along with George Reader, Stanley Boardman and A. C. Williams, also from Britain. 

Ling refereed both the first round match involving Sweden, the quarter-final involving Italy and was then selected for the final between Sweden and Yugoslavia. 

The final itself turned on two penalty decisions early in the second half (both of which were denied to the Yugoslavians) and which affected their temperament. Journalist, Bernard Joy, in the 1960 publication "Association Football" (p.470), wrote: "The setbacks rattled the Yugoslavs, their behaviour got out of hand for a spell and they did not recover their rhythm. What made matters worse was when Gunnar Gren converted a penalty midway through the second half.  It is reported that, "It was true that Gunnar Nordhal was bowled over, but the offence looked no worse than those committed by the Swedish centre half Bertil Nordhal!!"

1951 FA Cup Final: By the start of the next season (1948-49) Ling had become a Football League referee, and within three years had been appointed to control the 1951 FA Cup Final, in which Newcastle Utd beat Stanley Matthews' Blackpool with two goals from Jackie Milburn. (see photo below)

The 1954 World Cup was only his second international tournament. He was one of a group of four referees appointed from the UK for the 1954 tournament. The others were Benjamin Mervyn Griffiths from Wales, England's Arthur Ellis from Yorkshire and Charles Edward Fautless (really!!) from Scotland. In the course of the tournament, Ling had already refereed the Group match between Hungary and West Germany (in which the Hungarians had won 8–3 against the West German team of mainly reserve players) and had assisted Arthur Ellis during the Battle of Berne quarter-final. In the final he was assisted by Griffiths and  the Italian Vincenzo Orlandini. 

The Final Ling's part in the match, between Hungary and West Germany, became controversial because he accepted Griffith's OFFSIDE flag in the final minutes to deny Ferenc Puskas a 3-3 equalizer that could have sent the game into extra time.

Willy Meisl observed, later, that it appeared that goal keeper Gyula Grosics had struck Ling following the final whistle. Nothing came of this incident and the mood amongst the Hungarians settled once the Jules Rimet Trophy was handed to the West Germans. 

The Miracle of Bern the film of the World Cup final became the subject of the 2003 German film, which tells the story of the match. Joachim Floryszak, a non-League German football referee and civil servant, starred as Ling after contacting the director SonkeWortmann begging to be given a part in the film. AND...ALSO

On this day in 1972 was the birthday of Óli Johannesen, who played for Faroe Islands national team in period 1992-2007 (83 caps and 1 goal).

On this day, 1969-56 years ago, the Northern Ireland football player Jim Magilton is born. He appeared for 52 matches in total and scored 5 international goals for Northern Ireland.

Graeme Souness, former Scotland national football team player (54 caps and 4 goals), born on this day 1953.