Robert Matthewson (13 April 1930 – 10 November 2000) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

. Born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, Matthewson had a spell playing for the

Byker Byker is a district in the east of the City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series ''Byker Grove'', By ...

Youth Club's football team before he was signed by

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. After six appearances for Bolton in six seasons, including three appearances in the Football League, Matthewson was allowed to leave the club on a free transfer by manager

Bill Ridding William Ridding (4 April 1911 – 20 September 1981) also known as Nibbler Ridding, was an English football player and manager, most notably in a 17-year period managing Bolton Wanderers between 1951 and 1968, during which time the club won the ...

. He then joined Lincoln City but never played a league game for them. He then entered National Service. Upon his return an engineering colleague persuaded him to take up refereeing back in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

in 1958–1959, progressing through local leagues to the Lancashire Combination and Northern Premier League.Bradford City vs Northampton Town football programme, 23 April 1975 - referee profile of Bob Matthewson Matthewson became a Football League linesman in 1966 and two years later joined the list of referees. He made a quick impression and was senior linesman for the 1970 FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Leeds. A year later he took charge of a League Cup semi-final between Stoke City and West Ham United and in late 1972 was promoted to the FIFA List of referees. He was in charge of the remarkable

1974 FA Charity Shield The 1974 FA Charity Shield was the 52nd FA Charity Shield, an annual English association football match played between the winners of the previous season's Football League First Division and FA Cup. The match was contested by Leeds United F.C., ...

match. This was Brian Clough's first major match as manager of Leeds but became better-known for a double sending-off. Matthewson sent

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Billy Bremner William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional Association football, footballer who played for Leeds United F.C., Leeds United, Hull City A.F.C., Hull City, and the Scotland national football team, Scot ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. Nicknamed "King Kev" or "Mighty Mouse", Keegan was recognised for his dribbling ability, as well as his finishing and presence in the air, and is regard ...

off for fighting, the first time players had been dismissed in a major British club match at Wembley. The following year he was referee for the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough between Birmingham City and Fulham. His career in England culminated with

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

's 2–1 win over Liverpool in the 1977 FA Cup Final, the result ending Liverpool's hopes of the domestic League and Cup double. In May 1977 he signed on to become an official in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. On the international stage he only officiated two full international matches: the first was a

UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying The qualifying round for the 1976 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group winner progressed to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away bas ...

Group 8 match between

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

on 23 February 1975 and the second was a friendly between

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

on 6 October 1976. He also refereed the

1974–75 UEFA Cup The 1974–75 UEFA Cup was the fourth season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at the Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, West Germany, and at the Diekman Stadion, Enschede ...

semi-final first leg between

Köln Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

on 8 April 1975. With his wife, Pauline, Matthewson had a daughter Karen, a step-daughter Suzanne and three grandchildren. As well as playing and refereeing football, Matthewson also worked as an engineer for

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited (pronounced , ) was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of North London. Operations were later moved to ...

Horwich Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It ...

. Matthewson was portrayed in the 2009 film ''

The Damned United ''The Damned United'' is a 2009 sports drama film directed by Tom Hooper and adapted by Peter Morgan from David Peace's bestselling 2006 novel '' The Damned Utd'' – a largely fictional book based on the author's interpretation of Brian Cl ...

'' by Peter Quinn, the secretary of Blackburn non-league football club Sporting Athletic.

References

Print

*Football League Handbooks, 1966-1977 *Hugman, Barry J (1984) Football Players' Records 1946–1984, Newnes, p322 - confirmation of birth date and playing career

Internet

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthewson, Bob 2000 deaths Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players English football referees 1930 births English Football League players FA Cup final referees 20th-century English sportsmen