Leopold Sylvain Horn (29 August 1916 – 16 September 1995) was a Dutch football referee. Horn was born in Sittard, where he was a friend of entertainer

Toon Hermans Antoine Gerard Theodore "Toon" Hermans (17 December 1916 – 22 April 2000) was a noted Dutch comedian, singer and writer. Toon Hermans was born in Sittard. He began performing in the 1930s, achieving local, regional and, eventually, natio ...

. The family moved to Amsterdam in 1928. Horn became a clerk with the textile firm Lehmann & Co, and became an amateur referee, after his playing career was ended by a knee injury.

Second World War

Horn came to prominence as a referee after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. During the War Horn fought with the Dutch Resistance and had been awarded a black belt in

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

. Horn was suspended from refereeing by a

Royal Dutch Football Association The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch Netherlands nati ...

on orders of the annexed Dutch Government on account of being

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, in 1941. His brother, Edgar Horn, was murdered in a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

Major matches

Horn was placed in charge of the famous 1953 England–Hungary match at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

and is one of only four men to have refereed two European Champions' Cup finals, beginning with the 1957 final in the competition's second year. In the 1962 final against Benfica, Real Madrid player Ferenc Puskás was seen to throw something into the crowd. Ken Jones, an English journalist, later asked Horn why he had not cautioned Puskás. Horn replied: "What you don't know is that I threw my whistle at Puskás," Horn said. "It hit him in the ear." (It was the whistle that Puskás had thrown into the crowd). The next September Horn refereed the playoff of the 1962 Copa Libertadores Finals after the original

two-legged tie In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum ...

ended in a draw. Toward the end of his career Horn was appointed to referee the

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

match in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup on 2 February 1966. Jack Charlton, after being struck by a Valencian player, struck out and a free-for-all ensued, only to be broken up by the police. Horn lead both sides off the pitch, expelling Charlton and Vidagany in the tunnel. Of this game,

Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 199 ...

said: "One of the greatest storms in European football burst about the heads of Leeds United when they played Valencia. I was in the centre of the row – three players, including myself, were ordered off; both teams were also summoned from the field for a spell to allow heated tempers to cool" Horn claimed: 'Money was the cause of the trouble. You could almost smell it on the pitch.'

Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England manage ...

, said: 'If this is European football I think we are better out of it'." He refereed his last match

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

vs. Bulgaria on 31 August 1966.

Personal life

Horn became a firm friend of Abraham Klein later in life. He died in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages ...

aged 79.

References

;General sources *P. van der Eijk (12 November 2013
"Horn, Leopold Sailvin (1916–1995)"
in ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Horn, Leo 1916 births 1995 deaths Dutch football referees Dutch Jews People from Sittard 1962 FIFA World Cup referees Sportspeople from Limburg (Netherlands)