John Langenus (9 December 1891, in Antwerp,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Place of birth, plus other biography
: ''SpitsBroeders.nl'' website. Retrieved on 18 March 2008. – 1 October 1952, in AntwerpBirth and death dates
''Weltfußball.de'' website. Retrieved on 6 March 2008.) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

football referee, who officiated for FIFA in three

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 ...

competitions, including the first ever

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

match in 1930.

Life and career

Contrary to some sources, Langenus's parents actually gave him an Anglicised Christian name, rather than call him "Jean". Langenus first undertook his refereeing exam only to fail it when he wrongly answered a question posed by examiners. The question asked of him was: "What is the correct procedure if the ball strikes a low-flying plane?". Langenus did not answer and failed the exam.

1928 Summer Olympics

Langenus was selected to officiate at the 1928 Summer Olympics, and he refereed the first round match on 30 May 1928 at the Olympisch Stadion, where

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 ...

beat the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

by 2–0 in front of 40,000 people, and confirmed their place in the

quarter-final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

s. He was then given the honour of controlling the

bronze medal game Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

, at the same venue on 10 June 1928, between

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, when the African side were soundly beaten by 11 goals to 3 ( Schiavio, Banchero and Magnozzi all scored

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

s for the winning side).Statistical info
(plus Langenus' middle initial "L"): ''RSSSF.com'' statistical website. Retrieved on 18 March 2008.

1930 World Cup

In the 1930 FIFA World Cup, held in

and the first ever to be staged, Langenus handled four matches as referee, plus two as linesman. Two "Group" matches played under his stewardship were followed by the first semi-final between

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on 26 July 1930, which finished 6–1 to the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

n side. Langenus officiated all his matches "whatever the heat, in cap and

plus-fours Plus fours are breeches or trousers that extend four inches (10 cm) below the knee (and thus four inches longer than traditional knickerbockers, hence the name). Knickerbockers have been traditionally associated with sporting attire sinc ...

". The Americans played 80 minutes of the game "with one player missing (broken leg after 10 minutes)" - "substitutes weren't allowed, so the United States played on with only 10 men".Incident in 1930 World Cup semi-final
Argentina v. United States: sports writer

Brian Glanville Brian Lester Glanville (born 24 September 1931) is an English football writer and novelist. He was described by ''The Times'' as "the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation," and by Ame ...

, quoted by the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

website. Retrieved on 6 March 2008. There was also an incident involving one of the US medical staff, after Langenus had given a foul against one of the American players; "the team's medical attendant raced, bellicose, on to the field, to berate Langenus. Having had his say, he flung his box of medicines to the ground, the box burst open, various bottles smashed, including one full of chloroform, and its fumes rose to overpower the American. He was helped from the field." He then received the notable honour of controlling the

, on 30 July 1930 at the

Estadio Centenario Estadio Centenario is a stadium in the Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay, used primarily for football. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Ur ...

in Montevideo. The home country

met Argentina, and feelings were running high even before the match; the "big, tough, ruthless centre half" "Argentinian

Luis Monti Luis Felipe Monti (15 May 1901 – 9 September 1983) was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder and an Olympian. Monti has the distinction of having played in two FIFA World Cup final matches with two different national teams ...

received a death threat" and the referee "demanded a quick escape route plan to get back to his ship". It was Langenus who defused another potentially serious diplomatic issue when he suggested that, instead of choosing a match ball from either the hosts or the challengers (which was being hotly contested before the event), they use one ball in the first half of the Final, and switch to the other team's ball in the second half. This solution was accepted by both sides. Despite all this, "Langenus refereed skilfully, completely unfazed by the masses filling the ... Stadium ... to bursting point" during the game, which finished 4-2 to the hosts, even though "one of the game's most controversial incidents" was the allowing of the first Argentine goal, which some observers took to be offside.

1934 World Cup

In the 1934 World Cup Finals, hosted by

, Langenus was involved in only one game, the first round match between

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

at the Stadio Littorio in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

on 27 May 1934, which he refereed, and it ended in a 2–1 Czechoslovakia win.

1938 World Cup

The only sanction of any kind which John Langenus had to issue in all his matches in charge during three World Cups was the dismissal of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

's Hans Pesser in the 6th minute of extra time during a first round match in the 1938 competition against Switzerland in the Parc des Princes,

Paris, France Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, on 4 June 1938. After 120 minutes of play, the scoreline remained 1–1, and had to be settled by a replay five days later, the Swiss triumphing 4–2 (though Langenus did not handle the decider). On 19 June 1938, at the Parc de Lescure in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, Langenus received his second great career honour, having been chosen to oversee the

third place playoff A third place match, game for third place, bronze medal game or consolation game is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The tea ...

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 Sweden. By resting their tournament top scorer,

Leônidas Leônidas da Silva (; 6 September 1913 – 24 January 2004) was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is regarded as one of the most important players of the first half of the 20th century. Leônidas played for Braz ...

, in the semi-final, Brazil may have caused their own eventual participation in the lesser match instead of gracing the Final as expected. Leônidas scored twice for Brazil, in a 4–2 victory, to help secure third spot.Leonidas goals help secure third place for Brazil
1930 World Cup Finals playoff: ''PlanetWorldCup.com'' website. Retrieved on 6 March 2008.

Later career

Langenus later wrote three books; an autobiography, ''"Whistling in the World"'', and two other football-related works of non-fiction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langenus, John 1891 births 1952 deaths Belgian football referees FIFA World Cup referees FIFA World Cup Final match officials 1938 FIFA World Cup referees 1934 FIFA World Cup referees 1930 FIFA World Cup referees People from Berchem Olympic football referees Sportspeople from Antwerp