Manuel Valle

Manuel Valle had two distinct careers as a sports referee, the first on the pitch in football matches, before officiating in the ring for boxing matches. Valle started as a football referee when he was quite young, eventually spending 10 seasons officiating matches in the Spanish second division. From 1964 to 1974 he refereed in almost 100 league matches, along with 10 Copa del Generalísimo matches.

After Valle had officiated his final football match in the mid-1970s he saw an advert from the Tenerife Boxing Federation offering courses for future referees. As a fan of the sport, he signed up and began refereeing matches in the Spanish Amateur Boxing Championships. He later travelled to Romania to obtain the necessary qualifications to become an AIBA certified referee to oversee international fights. After being named as a substitute referee for boxing at the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympics, Valle finally got to officiate in more than 20 bouts at his home Games in Barcelona in 1992. In addition to holding various positions in the Spanish Boxing Federation, he also became the President of the Tenerife Boxing Federation.