Georges Balvay, also known as ''Thomas Balvay'' (2 February 1888 – 15 July 1945) was a

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 ...

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 ...

in the 1920s and 1930s and one of four

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an referees who participated in the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 in

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. He was the only match official from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the tournament.

Career

He had been an international referee since 1922 and twice refereed the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

(in 1926 and 1928).Referees of the French Cup Finals
- Official website of the French Football Federation He travelled to Uruguay on the SS ''Conte Verde'', which also took

Jules Rimet Jules Rimet (; 14 October 1873 – 16 October 1956) was a French football administrator who was the 3rd President of FIFA, serving from 1921 to 1954. He is FIFA's longest-serving president, in office for 33 years. He also served as the pres ...

and the French, Belgian, Romanian and Brazilian teams to the first World Cup; picking up the teams en route from Genoa to Rio de Janeiro before disembarking at

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

harbour.World Cup History - 1930, Uruguay
/ref>

Confusion over nationality and name

Cris Freddi, a British football historian, says this: 'For decades, the referee's identity was in serious doubt. French papers of the time don't mention his forename, while one recent source calls him John Balway (with the suggestion that he might have been an Englishman living in Paris). Others say his forename was Thomas or spell his surname Balvey (we can ignore the ''Jornal do Brasils Baldway!). It's Balway in many contemporary French, Dutch, and Spanish newspapers (he refereed a Spanish Cup Final), but some also spell it Balvay, as does the Official Report for the 1928 Olympics, which gives him the initial G. This was finally backed up in 2010, when an online edition of ''Le Parisien'' ran an interview with his granddaughter Amarande, a well-known actress and singer: "He took me to training sessions and instilled in me a passion for football." In the article, she calls him by name: "It's my grandfather Georges Balvay who refereed the first World Cup, Brazil-Bolivia in Uruguay in 1930."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balvay, Thomas 1888 births 1945 deaths French football referees FIFA World Cup finals match officials 1930 FIFA World Cup referees