Charles Sutcliffe

Charles Edward Sutcliffe (8 July 1864 – 11 January 1939) was a lawyer, football administrator and referee.

In the 1880s Sutcliffe played for Burnley. One of the more notable matches he played in was an 1885 FA Cup tie against Darwen Old Wanderers. The match finished 11–0 to Darwen, a club record defeat for Burnley which still stands in the 21st century. He finished playing in the mid-1880s, after finding himself unable to compete with England international Joe Lofthouse in a match against Blackburn Rovers. He retained a role at the club, joining the committee.

After encouragement by Preston North End's William Sudell, Sutcliffe took up refereeing, and became eligible to officiate League matches from 1891. He soon gained a reputation for obstinacy, and did not shy from controversy. In one match between Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool he disallowed six goals. After provoking the ire of the crowd in a match at Sunderland, he reputedly had to sneak out of the ground disguised as a policeman. He stopped refereeing League matches in 1898, though he continued as a linesman for a further decade. For a period of four years at the end of the 19th century, he refereed a number of Home Internationals. In 1908 he was a founder and the first president of the Referees' Association.

Sutcliffe became a Burnley director in 1897, and joined the Football League Management Committee the following year. He immediately proposed that the League should discontinue the test matches, which were used to determine promotion and relegation. The test matches were contested in a round-robin league format comprising four teams – the bottom two from the First Division and the top two from the Second Division. The two teams with the best test match record gained (or retained) First Division status, the other two were demoted. In 1898 Burnley had just gained promotion through the test matches in dubious circumstances. The final test match was between Burnley and Stoke. Other results meant both clubs knew a draw would be sufficient to give them First Division football. Neither team attempted to score, in what the Staffordshire Advertiser called a "fiasco". Sutcliffe proposed that the First Division be expanded by two clubs, thus giving space for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, the two clubs adversely affected by the arranged test match.

...
Wikipedia