Leslie Mottram

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Leslie "Les" William Mottram (born March 5, 1951) is a retired football referee from Scotland best known for supervising two matches in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA.

Mottram turned to refereeing after a brief professional playing career. He became a professional referee when he left Scotland to officiate in the Japanese J League.^[1]

[edit] Stanchion incident

Mottram is best remembered in Scotland for an incident in a match between Partick Thistle and Dundee United. United's Paddy Connolly "scored" with a sharp shot which hit the supporting stanchion in the back of the net and bounced out. As the United players celebrated, a Thistle outfield player picked up the ball, expecting a kick-off following the "goal". Mottram, however, did not blow his whistle to indicate a goal and waved play-on, apparently assuming that the ball had hit the post. Given that interpretation, he should then have awarded a penalty kick against the Partick outfield player who had handled the ball, which he failed to do. The incident didn't affect the outcome of the match, though, as Dundee United comfortably won 4-0.^[1] This incident may have been a contributing factor in Scottish clubs abandoning the old style goalposts in subsequent seasons, in favour of the modern style goals (which remain today) with vertical stanchions behind the goals themselves.