Leo Callaghan

infobox football official
name = Leo Callaghan


fullname = Leo Callaghan
dateofbirth = birth date|1924|02|05
cityofbirth = Merthyr Tydfil
countryofbirth = Wales
dateofdeath = death date and age|1987|01|08|1924|02|05
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath = Wales
otheroccupation =
years = 1954–1971
league = Football League
role = Referee
internationalyears = 1954–1971
confederation = FIFA listed
internationalrole = Referee

Leo Callaghan (born February 5 1924, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales; died January 8 1987, Wales [ [http://www.zerozero.eu/uk/arbitro.php?id=835&search=1 Dates of birth and death] : "zerozero.eu" website. Retrieved on March 25 2008.] ) was an association football referee in the English Football League. He was also a Welsh FIFA referee.

Career

Callaghan made the Football League referees list in 1954 at the age of thirty, and went on to have a seventeen year career at this level. His greatest domestic honour came when he took charge of the 1968 FA Cup Final between West Bromwich Albion and Everton at Wembley. He is one of only three Welshmen to referee the Final (the others being Mervyn Griffiths and Clive Thomas).

He was also an international referee. This included two Group matches as linesman and one Group C match as referee (between Portugal and Hungary) at the 1966 World Cup Finals in England, [ [http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1966/groupc_por_v_hun.html Portugal v. Hungary] , Group C, 1966 World Cup Finals: "PlanetWorldCup.com" website. Retrieved on March 25 2008.] as well as six matches in eleven years involving England in Home Internationals, [ [http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Archive/?&i=2005&pf=r&searchname=Callaghan&
] refereed (Home Internationals series): TheFA.com website. Retrieved on March 25 2008.] and in European competitions, such as the 1968 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying rounds. On June 11 1967 he took charge of Sweden versus Bulgaria in the Råsunda Stadium, Solna, in that competition. [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/68e-full.html Sweden v. Bulgaria] , 1968 European Championships, qualifying (1967): "rsssf.com" statistical website. Retrieved on March 25 2008.] As regards club competitions, Callaghan was in charge of, for example, Atlético Madrid against FK Vojvodina in their second round second leg tie in the European Cup on December 14 1966 at the Estadio del Manzanares, when the two-leg scores tied at 3–3, and the result had to be decided by a tie-break match a week later. [ [http://www.linguasport.com/futbol/internacional/clubes/c1/C1_67gd.htm Atlético Madrid v. Vojvodina] , 2nd round 2nd leg, European Cup, 1966: "Linguasport.com" website. Retrieved on March 26 2008.]

An extraordinary event occurred on November 12 1970. Whilst refereeing a Football League Second Division match between Millwall and Sheffield United, the city of London was engulfed by " [t] orrential rain", causing the "abandonment of [the] game after 25 minutes by ... Callaghan ...". [ [http://ds.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning/thirty5.htm Match abandoned due to "torrential rain"] , Millwall v. Sheff. Utd., 1970: "Bob Dunning's "Thirty Years Ago" feature. Retrieved on March 25 2008.]

He retired from the League list in 1971. He later became a Football League assessor.

References

Print

*Football League Handbooks, 1954-1970
*Rothmans Football Yearbooks, 1970-1971.
*Freddi, Cris (1998) The Complete History Of the World Cup, Collins Willow.
*Ionescu, Romeo (2003) The Complete Results & Line-Ups of the European Fairs Cup 1955-1971, Soccer Books Limited.
*Ionescu, Romeo (2003) The Complete Results & Line-Ups of the European Football Championships 1958-2003, Soccer Books Limited.
*Ionescu, Romeo (2004) The Complete Results & Line-Ups of the European Champions Clubs’ Cup 1955-1991, Soccer Books Limited.
*Ionescu, Romeo (2004) The Complete Results & Line-Ups of the European Cup Winners Cup 1960-1999, Soccer Books Limited.
*Ionescu, Romeo (2004) The Complete Results & Line-Ups of the UEFA Cup 1971-1991, Soccer Books Limited.
*Elleray, David (2004) The Man In the Middle, Time Warner, p49-50 (reference to role as an assessor)

Internet