Former Scottish grade one and Fifa referee George Smith has died aged 75.
He retired as a supervisor in October last year after an incredible 58 years of active involvement in refereeing.
George who was from Edinburgh was honorary president of the Edinburgh and District Referees Association who said: “It is with great sadness to make you all aware that our honorary president George Smith has passed away.
“With his death, Scottish refereeing has lost one of its outstanding figures of recent times.
“Our thoughts are with his wife and family at this difficult time.”
He took charge of three Scottish Cup finals and two League Cup finals as well as refereeing at the 1990 World Cup in Italy where he took charge of the Austria v Czechoslovakia group stage match, handing out seven yellow cards. His most famous game was the 1980 Scottish Cup final at Hampden where an infamous riot took place on the pitch after Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 after extra time.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
