George Mitchell (born 22 February 1912, date of death unknown)"Deceased" on footballzz.com /ref> was the first Scotsman to participate in a
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
final match when he ran the line to
George Reader
George Reader (22 November 1896 – 13 July 1978) was the fourth man to referee a FIFA World Cup Final, the first Englishman (one of only 10 match officials from the United Kingdom) to do so, and the oldest match official at any World Cup in hi ...
in the 1950 final group match between
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
.
Mitchell had been a class 1 referee from 1946 and had been appointed to only one match of note (the 1949
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers and East Fife) when he was selected to represent his country at the
1950 FIFA World Cup
The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...
in Brazil. There he formed part of the first group of British referees ever to appear in a World Cup Finals tournament*, including
Arthur Edward Ellis
Arthur Edward Ellis (8 July 1914 – 23 May 1999) was an English football referee. He was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
Ellis was a referee in The Football Association competitions and in FIFA international competitions. He refereed at the ...
,
Mervyn Griffiths
Benjamin Mervyn "Sandy" Griffiths (17 January 1909 – 21 January 1974) was a Wales, Welsh Football (soccer), football Referee (association football), referee from Abertillery, Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire. In his professional life he ...
George Reader
George Reader (22 November 1896 – 13 July 1978) was the fourth man to referee a FIFA World Cup Final, the first Englishman (one of only 10 match officials from the United Kingdom) to do so, and the oldest match official at any World Cup in hi ...
. Mitchell appeared in four matches during the finals: the opening game, a match from Pool C and two games in the final pool, including Brazil's victory over Spain.
After the finals Mitchell returned to Scotland, maintained his status as a FIFA referee until 1954–55 season (taking charge of the
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
v
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
clash of 1951); as a class 1 referee until the 1961–62 season; then served as the SFA Referee Supervisor from the following season until 1988–89 season. He was also brought in to take charge of the Falkirk v Scotland XI friendly in 195 *There is some doubt as to nationality of Thomas Balway who represented
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...