Former World Cup referee Charles Corver died at the age of 84, in his hometown Leidschendam, due to metastatic stomach cancer. The weekly magazine Voetbal International had no doubts in the year 2000 and proclaimed him the best Dutch referee of the last century. After his debut in professional football in 1969, Corver, a national sales manager at Heineken, refereed almost 800 matches at home and abroad until his farewell game 14 years later. He attended three major final tournaments: the 1980 European Championship (Italy) and the World Cups 1978 (Argentina) and 1982 (Spain). During the latter event, Corver overlooked a major foul by the German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battiston, in the otherwise excellent semi-final between France and West Germany. The incident would haunt the referee for days to come. Battiston was unconscious on the field for minutes after the foul and was in hospital for quite some time. FIFA did not charge him for the incident. Corver got a 9.5 on his assessment report for the game. UEFA did not blame him either and awarded him the UEFA Cup final between Benfica and Anderlecht in his farewell year. It was his third European final after the 1977 UEFA Cup final (Juventus-Athletic Bilbao) and the 1978 European Cup final (Liverpool-Club Brugge). In 1975, he whistled the Intercontinental Cup final for clubs between Independiente and Atletico Madrid. After his time as a referee, Corver, who for years asserted himself in local politics on behalf of the VVD, was a member of the professional football disciplinary committee for another 16 years, he chaired the Dutch referees committee for two years and was a referee observer for 22 years. (Source: News1)
In an interview on Dutch Referee Blog, Corver said “My fondest memory is the final of the Intercontinental Cup between Independiente Buenos Aires and Atletico Madrid, as that assignment came totally out of the blue. In previous years, these matches became infamous for the violent on-pitch conduct and dirty tactics. So, when FIFA selected me to officiate this important, but likely very difficult match, it came as a big surprise. Apparently, Artemio Franchi, who headed FIFA’s referees committee at the time, had a lot of confidence in my ability. The papers, too, heaped praise on me for my performance.” In spite of his distinguished career, many people seem to only remember him for that Schumacher-Battiston collision in the World Cup 1982 semi-final. “It was the best semi-final ever played during any final tournament on any continent. I did not see the incident, as I followed the ball. At the moment I saw Battiston lying on the pitch, I went over to my assistant Robert Valentine from Scotland, who told me it was not intentional. Even Dutch television commentator Evert ten Napel admitted that he also followed the ball’s course, which went just wide. Throughout the rest of the match, the players never gave me grief for the decision either. Yes, in retrospect, I should have sent Schumacher off, of course, for using excessive force. The FIFA assessor Latyshev, who himself had refereed the 1962 World Cup final in Chile, awarded me a 9.5, the highest mark of that entire World Cup tournament. It just shows that a referee can achieve fame for failing to see a collision, rather than for his career performances. These days, you have your assistants and the fourth official aiding you through your headset or there is the video referee standing by to show you a replay. I had none of those things to help me back then, unfortunately. The initial highly complimentary reviews were soon followed by severe criticism. I wasn’t too happy with that, obviously. But both FIFA and UEFA rewarded me with some great matches in that final year of my career. They recognized my achievements, which was wonderful. Hardly had I come home from Spain when I was assigned for a European Championships qualifying match. I refereed Denmark-England and a quarter-final match in the European Cup. Yet that season had even more surprises in store for me, as I was selected to referee the 1983 UEFA Cup final between Benfica and Anderlecht.” Corver used to be a national sales manager at Heineken for nearly 41 years. “I would have never given up my job in favour of being a full-time referee, as some refs do nowadays. I would not like to be on call at least 24 hours a week. Training, yes, I did some intense training in my time, but I found it easy to combine with my job. Actually, I couldn’t have asked for a better job. Freddy (Heineken; the CEO of the Heineken conglomerate) gave me every possible support, enabling me to perform to the best of my ability. That way, it was possible for me to go the World Cup in Argentina for seven weeks and also to Spain four years later. Not to mention all those European cup matches and FIFA tournaments, not seldom outside Europe. He did have one condition, though: I had to take and hand out business cards in as many as eight languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, you name it.” When he finally hung up his whistle, Charles Corver became observer for UEFA, FIFA and KNVB for 22 years and a member of the KNVB’s disciplinary committee for 16 years.
The Dutch referee of the last century did not have any issues following his matches. “I heard from other referees, like Jan Keizer, that some vengeful characters had thrown bricks through their windows. Of course, you would only hear that later. I cannot say it ever happened to me. The only match that stirred up a great deal of trouble was at Feyenoord, where I awarded a penalty against the home team. After the match, Feyenoord directors offered to sneak me out the back door and escort me to my car as they feared the reactions of their fans. I did not want that. I just wanted to leave the stadium the normal way. Once outside, I simply went up to the waiting fans, calmly explained my position and was allowed to get in my car and drive off without any trouble. I had a reputation of being anything but a home referee and allowing manly football”, Corver remembers. “But I had a sixth sense for dirty play and gamesmanship.” It allowed Corver to get away with dishing out few yellows and even fewer reds during his long career. “An early unmistakable, stern reprimand would usually suffice.” His maxim was (and is): You cannot win the respect of anyone but through correct, courageous and consistent conduct. Recalling his first match reffing Johan Cruyff at Ajax’ De Meer stadium, Charles Corver says: “He protested my decision to award a penalty against Ajax by waving his hand in a gesture of disapproval. He had grown a habit of doing that and most of my colleagues tolerated it. Not me. I immediately showed him a yellow card. After that, he must have thought: ‘Better be careful around Corver and stop doing that'. The disciplinary committee came down on him hard as well. Still, in spite of this incident, I always had a great rapport with Cruyff. He would accept my authority. Twice, when I reffed Barcelona, he came into my dressing room after the match and gave me his shirt. My son is still proud to own those. Once players know the referee will not let them fool around, they will stop doing it. As a referee, you have the power to project a certain image and build a reputation for yourself.” (Source: Dutch Referee)