Bill Mullan

Bill Mullan was born in Dublin while his parents were on holiday in the Irish capital. At the age of 18 he joined the Royal Navy and served two years as an electrician on a destroyer before returning home, and trained as a boilermaker at a local iron works. He later became an unqualified physical education teacher in Edinburgh, before going to Aberdeen University to obtain a degree in physical education. He got married in 1951 and two years later went to Edinburgh University to obtain a mathematics degree, and got a job teaching PE, swimming and maths.

Mullan took up football refereeing and was a senior referee for 18 seasons from 1960/61. He was also on the FIFA list of officials for ten years. In his prime he was regarded as one of the fastest referees in Scotland.

Mullan refereed some memorable matches over the years. In 1971 he was in charge of the second leg of the FIFA World Club Championship (Intercontinental Cup) final between Nacional of Uruguay and Panathinaikos of Greece. That same year, Mullan refereed the Scottish League Cup Final between Glasgow Celtic and Partick Thistle, in which the latter surprisingly defied the odds to win the trophy for the first time, by four goals to one.

In 1972 Mullan refereed the Belgium versus West Germany match in the semi-final of the European Championships. His performance saw him get called up to officiate at that year’s München Olympics, where he was in charge of the first ever competitive meeting between East and West Germany.

After ending his career, the Scottish FA made him a member of the Referee Supervisors’ Executive in 1979, a position he held for 20 years. He was also an observer at FIFA and UEFA matches, which involved watching other referees in action and assessing their performances. He stepped down as a “referee observer” in 1999, having retired from school-teaching in 1992.