George Courtney
| Full name | George Courtney | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
4 June 1941 Spennymoor, County Durham, England |
||
| Other occupation | Headteacher | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| ?-1973 | Northern League | Referee | |
| 1971–1974 | Football League | Assistant referee | |
| 1973–1974 | (Supplementary List) | Referee | |
| 1974–1992 | Football League | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1977–1991 | FIFA–listed | Referee | |
George Courtney (born 4 June 1941) is an English former football referee based in Spennymoor, County Durham.
He is said to be a freemason. His vocational career was spent as a primary school headteacher.
Courtney started refereeing school games in and around his area of Spennymoor, in 1961. He later carried out both linesman and refereeing duties for the Northern League before becoming a Football League linesman in 1971. Just two years later he was appointed to the supplementary panel of referees and one year after that was included in the full list of referees at the age of only thirty three. In 1976, despite only being in his second year as a Football League referee, he was appointed to the decisive match for the League title in which Liverpool staged a dramatic recovery to beat Wolves and overtake QPR.
In 1977, he made the FIFA panel of referees. He had achieved this feat in only three seasons which was, until the case of Martin Atkinson in 2006, the quickest in modern times. In 1979, he took charge of the Charity Shield and was back at Wembley the following May for the ultimate honour of the FA Cup Final between West Ham and Arsenal.
Courtney is married with one child. He was a Head teacher before his referee career took off. He supports all North East teams.
On 9 February 2007 Courtney's son died from an accident that occurred in the Tate Modern London.
Pat Partridge's retirement in 1981 followed by the unexpected early departure of another World Cup referee, Clive White the following year led to Courtney becoming the dominant refereeing figure of the 1980s. He took charge of the 1983 League Cup Final, thus completing the hat trick of major Wembley matches. He went on to referee numerous FA Cup semi-finals as well as many top division games. He was due to retire in 1989 but in common with a number of other senior and respected officials at that time was granted an extension. He went on to serve three extra years on the list. This allowed him to officiate the second leg of the first division play off semi final between Newcastle United and Sunderland at St James's Park on 16 May 1990, which was won 2-0 by Sunderland after a 0-0 draw in the first leg. Courtney was forced to take the players off the field for 20 minutes late in the second half after Marco Gabbiadini's goal defeated the magpies, leading to hundreds of Newcastle's supporters running onto the pitch.
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