The first English referee to officiate a World Cup final was William 'Bill' Ling (1908-1984) in Bern, 1954. In a match that became known as 'the Miracle of Bern', Ling was embroiled in controversy for ruling out a tie at the end of the game. The match was billed as a miracle after West Germany, making its first World Cup appearance since the war, beat the best team in the world at the time, Hungary.
Hungary was undefeated for 32 matches in the last four years. In fact, over a period of six years they only lost one match, and it was this one. Hungary took a two-goal lead in the first ten minutes. But the West Germans came back to level things up before the game reached 20 minutes. With six minutes to go, Helmut Rahn gave West Germany a surprising lead. Almost immediately, the Hungarians returned. Puskas equalized with two minutes to go, and it looked like the match would go into extra time. Ling initially signaled the goal. But then South Wales linesman Benjamin Mervyn 'Sandy' Griffiths raised the flag for offside. “He was never offside. Never!" Wrote Ralph Finn, one of the few English journalists watching from the press box. Ling sided with his teammate. The Hungarians surrounded him, stunned by the decision made worse when he seemed to change his mind. Television images are often grainy, but it certainly looks like Puskas was on the line when he first received the ball outside the box. There is a German defender a little bit ahead of him. Then, as the action progresses, you can see another defender in sight. The West Germans held on to make a big impact. For FIFA, the World Cup was still in its infancy, but after World War II they were determined to make it as big as the Olympics. For the second tournament in a row, they had a surprising winner, which ensured that the competition filled many columns around the world. Late in the game, Ling was reported to have been beaten by the Hungarian goalkeeper, Gyula Grosics. The dream of the Hungarians was over. They would go down in history as one of the best teams to never win the World Cup. Ling, Griffiths and the other linesman, Italy's Vincenzo Orlandini, officiated a match that later had huge ramifications for the fortunes of both nations, good for Germany and not so much for Hungary.
Born in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire, Ling quickly rose through the ranks as a referee. He was selected to officiate during the 1948 Olympics in London. At the time he was only on the supplementary list as an official in the Football League, but after taking charge of a group and quarter-final match, he was given the responsibility of refereeing the final between Sweden and Yugoslavia. He had a good resume at the end of his career. Along with an Olympics gold medal match and the 1954 World Cup final, Ling was also in charge of the 1951 FA Cup final. Ling died in May 1984 at the age of 75. Just three days later, Toni Turek, the West German goalkeeper who conceded the 'goal' that Ling ruled out, also passed away.
Source: Football BH
