Ken Dagnall

Kenneth Dagnall (30 January 1921^[1] – March 1995^[2]) was an English former football referee, who officiated in the Football League and for FIFA, especially during the 1966 World Cup held in England. He originally came from Bolton in Lancashire,^[3] latterly living in the Great Lever area of the town.^[2]

Career

Ken Dagnall became a Football League referee in 1955 and reached the international list by 1962. He took charge of two matches in the 1966 World Cup. The first was the 3–1 win by Hungary over Brazil in Group C at Goodison Park, Liverpool, on 15 July 1966.^[4] This was followed by the third/fourth place play-off game (or "Bronze Final") at Wembley on 28 July 1966, played between the losing semi-finalists, Portugal and the Soviet Union, and which the Portuguese won 2–1.^[5] It has been suggested that he would have instead refereed the World Cup Final of that year if England had been eliminated from the tournament.^[2]

Domestically, he was then selected to handle the 1967 FA Cup Final at Wembley on 20 May 1967, when Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea by 2 goals to 1.^[6] Shortly after his retirement in 1968 he suggested in the Bolton Evening News that a band of around fifteen referees should take charge of the most important matches, allowing them a greater number of games at the top level (reported in the Football League Review, volume 3, issue 14, November 1968). This did not occur at the time but a similar system now operates in English professional football.

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