- Thomas Balvay
Thomas Balvay (b. 1888 - d. 1945) [ [http://www.weltfussball.de/schiedsrichter_profil.php?id=17277 John Balway :: Einsätze ] ] was a football referee in the 1920s and 1930s and one of four
Europe an referees who participated in the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 inUruguay . Indeed he was the only match official fromFrance at the tournament.The Mystery
However,
Cris Freddi , an English football historian, has stated that Balvay was an English teacher living inParis during the 1920s and, as such, he would be one of the first Englishman to have participated in aFIFA World Cup . Freddi writes: "Balway is believed to have been an Englishman living in Paris. The French FA website calls him Georges Balvay, but this is apparently an error (contemporary French sources spell it Balway and several sources call him John". ['Complete Book of the WC 2002, reprinted 2006] .This has been used by others to underline that he was indeed an Englishman who lived and worked in Paris in the 1920s. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A771004 BBC - h2g2 - The Finals of the 1930 World Cup ] at www.bbc.co.uk] But, as Freddi himself say, we have to tread carefully here. So little is known about this man that we can't be sure what he was called - except that he probably wasn't Thomas and his surname wasn't spelt Balvay!
His Name
There is also dispute as to the correct spelling of his name [ [http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Dome/4982/resul30.htm Resultados 30 ] at www.geocities.com] [ [http://home.trollnet.no/knuta/vmstatistikk.html Fotball VM statistikk ] at home.trollnet.no] ,. [ [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://users.skynet.be/pluto/Textwk/Referee/referee1930.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DJohn%2BBalway%26start%3D50%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2006-06,RNWE:en%26sa%3DN Translated version of http://users.skynet.be/pluto/Textwk/Referee/referee1930.html ] at users.skynet.be] The
French Football Federation record that his name as Georges Balvay and also Thomas Balvay. [ [http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fff.fr%2F%2Fcfra%2Factu%2Fchiffres%2F1706.shtml&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8 Referees of the French Cup Finals] - Official website of the French Football Federation] FIFA indicates that his name was John Balway. [ [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=1/results/matches/match=1091/report.html FIFA World Cup 1930] - Official FIFA World Cup web site]Career
He had been an international referee since 1922 [ [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://futbol.sportec.es/seleccion/ficha_partido.asp%3Fpar%3DPORESP%26nj%3D4%26c%3D1&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DThomas%2BBalway%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2006-06,RNWE:en%26sa%3DN Select matches in Spain] ] and twice refereed the
Coupe de France (in 1926 and 1928). [ [http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fff.fr%2F%2Fcfra%2Factu%2Fchiffres%2F1706.shtml&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8 Referees of the French Cup Finals] - Official website of the French Football Federation]He travelled to Uruguay on the SS "Conte Verde", which also took
Jules Rimet and the French, Belgian, Romanian and Brazilian teams to the first World Cup; picking up the teams en route from Genoa to Rio de Janeiro before disembarking atMontevideo harbour. [ [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=1/index.html FIFA World Cup 1930] - Official FIFA World Cup web site] [ [http://www.world-cup-betting-2006.com/world-cup-1930.htm World Cup History - 1930, Uruguay ] ]When the ship docked at Rio Harbour, Balvay learnt that his wife had passed away in France.Fact|date=November 2007
References
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