Stanley Rous

Sir Stanley Ford Rous [ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101040150/ Full name] : "Oxford Biography Index" entry.] (born April 25, 1895 in Mutford, Suffolk; died July 18, 1986 [http://www.aafla.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1986/ore226/ore226w.pdf Confirming date of death] , July 18 1986: PDF version of AAFLA "Olympic Review 1986" obituary.] [ [http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1986/july_18_1986_159251.html Alternative source] for date of death: "BrainyHistory.com" website.] ) was an English football referee and administrator.

Career

Originally a sports teacher at Watford Boys Grammar School (ironically being responsible for the school changing its main sport from association football to rugby union), Rous played football at amateur level as goalkeeper, as well as becoming a FIFA referee, officiating in a total of 36 international matches.

He began refereeing Football League matches in 1927, consisting mainly of appointments to Second Division matches, and games in the Third Division North and South which operated at the time.

The first International match he was put in charge of was Belgium against Holland in the Bosuilstadion, Antwerp, on March 13 1927. The home side won this friendly tie 2-0. [ [http://www.rdasilva.demon.co.uk/football/f/1927.html Belgium v. Holland] , 1927, result: "R Da Silva" personal website.]

He was appointed to referee the 1934 FA Cup Final on April 28 at Wembley, where Manchester City defeated Portsmouth by 2 goals to 1. [ [http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=258622 1934 FA Cup Final] : at soccerbase.com website.] The following day, after travelling to Belgium to control an International match, Stanley Rous retired from refereeing.

He then moved into the sphere of football administration. He served as of the Football Association from 1934 to 1962, and president of FIFA from 1961 to 1974. During his time as FIFA President, Rous witnessed the crowning of England as Champions of the World in 1966. Rous became infamous with policies within FIFA which has more of a Eurocentric approach , as he did little to nothing to appease the growing concern in African Football's debate over World Cup spots within FIFA, the growing resentment at a set of power relations that effectively marginalized African football. CAF officials, most notably Ydnekatchew Tessema, the confederation's president at the time, increasingly gave voice to their frustrations and resentment, and this led to a lobby aimed at ending Europe's administrative domination over world football. Rhamadan Ali, a noted Tanzanian sports journalist and former international footballer, recalls the feelings of the African confederation toward the FIFA president at that time: "The AFC (CAF) was fed up with Sir Stanley Rous' FIFA and wanted a new man at the top who was more receptive to the interests of African football" (Ali 1984:10). Africa's difficulty though was that, acting alone, CAF could not have hoped to challenge Rous for the presidency of FIFA. The emergence and ascendancy of FIFA's only non-European president was firmly implanted in this complex set of circumstances.Upon his retirement as president, on June 11, 1974, he was nominated Honorary President of FIFA. [ [http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/fifa/pastpresidents.html Honorary President of FIFA] , 1974: FIFA.com website.]

Rous made a major contribution to the game by rewriting the Laws of the Game in 1938, making them simpler and easier to understand. He was also the first to employ the diagonal system of control for referees as a standard practice. [ [http://www.fifa.com/newscentre/news/newsid=71950.html Rewriting the Laws of the Game] (19 June 1997), also mention of the diagonal system of control for referees: FIFA.com website.] According to Belgian referee John Langenus, who had been in charge of the 1930 World Cup Final, he had seen referees from his country making a similar attempt at scientific positioning on the field of play. [ [http://www.footballreferee.org/assistant_referees_diagonal.php Diagonal system of control] : "Footballreferee.org" website.] The short-lived Rous Cup was named after him, as was the Rous Stand at Watford FC's Vicarage Road ground. He was life president of QPR.fact|date=September 2007

He died in 1986, at the age of 91.

References

;Print
*"Football Worlds: A Lifetime in Sport", Stanley Rous (Faber & Faber 1978), ISBN 0571111947.;Internet