George McCabe (born 13 March 1922,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

; died January 2001"The late George McCabe"
:

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

official website. Retrieved 26 March 2008.) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

referee, who officiated at the

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

and in an

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

. He became a Football League referee in 1954 and an international referee in 1960. Throughout his league career he sent off only three players. Outside football he was the director of a Sheffield engineering company.

Career

McCabe, though awarded the 1969 FA Cup Final in his final match in England, is perhaps more well known for his handling of the

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 ...

versus

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

match played at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, on 19 July 1966, in which he was assisted by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Leo Callaghan Leo Callaghan (5 February 1924 – 8 January 1987) was an association football referee in the English Football League. He was also a Welsh FIFA referee. Career Callaghan was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. He made the Football League re ...

and England's Ken Dagnall.Brazil v. Portugal
Group C, 1966 World Cup: ''PlanetWorldCup.com'' website. Retrieved 26 March 2008. During that game he failed to send João Morais from the field of play after a double foul on Pelé. In 2010, ''The Telegraph'' listed it among the 10 worst refereeing errors in World Cup history.World Cup final: 10 top World Cup refereeing errors
''The Telegraph'' Retrieved 8 May 2011 The official

website mentions his death when crediting him with being co-founder (along with Derek Dooley) of the "Senior Blades Club", for over-60 supporters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, George 1922 births FIFA World Cup referees FA Cup Final referees 2001 deaths 1966 FIFA World Cup referees English football referees