Rudolf Kreitlein (14 November 1919, in

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division ('' Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the ...

– 31 July 2012, in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

) was a German international football referee, active in the 1960s.

England v Argentina, 1966 World Cup

Kreitlein is perhaps best known for having refereed the 1966 World Cup quarter-final match between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

in which he dismissed

Antonio Rattín Antonio Ubaldo Rattín (born May 16, 1937) is a former Argentine football player, best known as a Boca Juniors midfielder, and because of an incident in a match at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Rattín remains as one of the greatest idols of Boca Jun ...

from the field of play in the 35th minute of the game for a second caution - dissent. Rattín initially refused to leave the pitch, arguing furiously with Kreitlein (even though neither man understood each other's native language) and the game was held up for several minutes until Rattín reluctantly departed. It was also during that game that Jack Charlton was cautioned, only to discover the fact the next day from the newspaper report. As a result of this incident, Kreitlein and

Ken Aston Kenneth George Aston, MBE (1 September 1915 – 23 October 2001) was an English teacher, soldier, and football referee, who was responsible for many important developments in football refereeing - including the yellow and red penalty card sys ...

developed the idea of yellow cards and red cards to aid on-field communication in football. Kreitlein, who had never seen the match, requested a copy of the game from

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

in 2006. Kreitlein retired from international competition in 1967.

Career

Kreitlein began his refereeing career at the age of 17, and soon moved to the US to train referees. He subsequently returned to Germany, where he tried to become a professional footballer. However, a serious knee injury ended this aspiration, and he concentrated on refereeing instead. Kreitlein's rise to prominence within the European game was evident prior to the World Cup. He had been appointed as one of the German representatives for the 1963 UEFA Youth Championship in

, refereeing the final between

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

(his assistants were the Hungarian orchestral conductor and referee István Zsolt and the Belgian Mark Raemaekers). Kreitlein had been a

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

referee from its inauguration in 1963 but had only refereed 36 matches at national level before being appointed referee (in May 1966) to the European Cup Final, where he took charge of the game between

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and Partizan Belgrade in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Personal life

Kreitlein worked as a tailor. He was married, but had no children. His wife died in 2008.

References

External links

Profile
at worldfootball.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Kreitlein, Rudolf 1919 births 2012 deaths Sportspeople from Fürth Sportspeople from Stuttgart German football referees FIFA World Cup referees 1966 FIFA World Cup referees