James McCluskey (1 November 1950 – 14 November 2013) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and referee, who officiated in the

1991 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup was the first FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national football teams. It took place in Guangdong, China from 16 to 30 November 1991. FIFA, football's international governing body sele ...

and the final of

UEFA Women's Euro 1991 The 1991 UEFA Women's Championship took place in Denmark. It was won by Germany in a final against Norway in a repeat of the previous edition's final. Eighteen teams entered qualifying, which was enough to make the competition the first fully offic ...

Career

A former player in the early 1970s before becoming an official, he refereed the 1990 Scottish League Cup final, an

Old Firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...

fixture in which

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

defeated

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

2–1 at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

(leading a group of Celtic supporters to have him followed by a private investigator to uncover any bias towards their rivals), the 1993 Scottish Cup final where Rangers beat

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

2–1 at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

, the 1993 Scottish League Cup final at Celtic Park in which Rangers overcame

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

2–1, and the

1994 Scottish League Cup final The 1994 Scottish League Cup final was played on 27 November 1994, at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, and was the final of the 49th Scottish League Cup competition. The final was contested by Raith Rovers and Celtic. Raith Rovers won the final on a pen ...

won on penalties by

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

over Celtic at

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Scottish Premiership team Rangers, Ibrox is the third-largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated ca ...

. With the national cup finals being spread around those locations during the 1990s due to reconstruction work, this gave McCluskey the unique distinction of having refereed such matches at all three venues. McCluskey also oversaw the second leg of the

1994 UEFA Cup final The 1994 UEFA Cup final was a two-legged match that took place on 26 April 1994 and 11 May 1994 at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna and San Siro, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan between Inter Milan, Internazionale of Italy and FC Red Bull Salzb ...

between

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

and Casino Salzburg, and altogether took charge of more than 50

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 ...

and

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

matches. To celebrate his career, the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

awarded McCluskey a Scottish Cup final game for his swansong.Football: I reffed Brazil and Inter but Alloa v Caley tops the lot
Daily Record, 27 May 2000 He presided over the 2000 Scottish Cup final, in which Rangers beat Aberdeen 4–0 at Hampden. McCluskey, who worked as a surveyor in Ayrshire in addition to refereeing, died on 14 November 2013 in

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

, aged 63.

References

External links

* * * * 1950 births 2013 deaths Scottish football referees Sportspeople from Shotts FIFA Women's World Cup referees Sportspeople from East Ayrshire Shotts Bon Accord F.C. players Scottish men's footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Men's association football players not categorized by position Scottish Football League referees 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{scotland-footy-bio-stub