Arthur Ellis

In the 1950s, Yorkshire-born Arthur Ellis was probably the best-known football referee in England, and between 1969-82 he gained further notoriety as referee on the popular British television game show, It’s A Knockout.

Ellis was a keen footballer as a youngster but, after failing to get a regular place in his local under-16 team, he turned to refereeing and by the age of 22 was a referee in the Yorkshire League. Two years later he joined the Football League’s list of linesmen, and in 1952 he refereed the FA Cup Final between Newcastle United and Arsenal, when only 37 years-of-age. After the match he was invited to the traditional post-Cup Final banquets organized for both teams, and not wishing to show any partisanship, he went to both.

Ellis officiated at three FIFA World Cup competitions, the first being in 1950, when he was a linesman in the final match between Uruguay and Brazil. In 1954 Ellis refereed one of the most violent World Cup games ever seen when he took charge of the quarter-final tie between Hungary and Brazil. The favourites Hungary won amid scenes of violence that saw three players sent off. Running battles between the two teams took place both on and off the pitch, and even spilled over to the dressing room. Little wonder it was dubbed the “Battle of Berne”. Fortunately for Ellis, his third World Cup in 1958 was less eventful and he ran the line in the third-place play-off match between France and West Germany, which France won 6-3.

Ellis had the honor of refereeing the first European Cup Final between Real Madrid and Rheims in 1956. His brother Frank was also a referee, and ran the line for Ellis in that year’s competition. It was in the European Cup that Arthur Ellis was involved in a major controversy in November 1960 when Real Madrid entertained fierce rivals Barcelona in their second round first leg tie. Madrid had won the trophy five years in succession and had never lost or drawn a home tie at their Bernabéu stadium. Madrid led 2-1 with three minutes of the match remaining, when Ellis ignored the linesman’s flag indicating the Hungarian Sandor Kocsis was offside, and waved for play to continue. Kocsis was then fouled in the penalty area and Barça scored from the resulting penalty kick to draw 2-2. They were the first team to leave Madid unbeaten in the European Cup, and they won the second leg 2-1 to eliminate the five times champions.

Ellis worked for a Yorkshire brewery and retired from refereeing in 1962 upon reaching the statutory retirement age if 47. He had more than 70 international matches to his credit. He then became president of the newly formed Pools Panel in 1963 and held the post for 30 years. The Pools Panel sat in secret and predicted the outcome of football matches in case of postponement due to bad weather, for the benefit of the Football Pools companies.