James "Jim" Finney was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 referee during the 1960s and 1970s, active on the FIFA

FIFA

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...

 list.

Refereeing career

After being appointed to the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 list in 1959, he refereed the Amateur Cup

FA Amateur Cup

The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when The Football Association abolished official amateur status.-History:...

 final of that year. Finney then took charge of the 1962 FA Cup Final

FA Cup Final 1962

The 1962 FA Cup Final took place on 5 May 1962 at Wembley Stadium and was won by Tottenham Hotspur over Burnley, by a 3–1 scoreline. Due to the lack of passion and excitement, replaced by patience and cautious play, the final was dubbed "The Chessboard Final". Tottenham took to the field as...

 between Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

 and Burnley

Burnley F.C.

Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...

. Though the normal practice at the time was for the winning captain to keep the match ball, Danny Blanchflower

Danny Blanchflower

Robert Dennis "Danny" Blanchflower was a former Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager, and journalist who captained Tottenham Hotspur F.C. during its double-winning season of 1961. He was ranked as the greatest player in Spurs history by The Times in 2009...

 presented Finney with the ball at the end of the game. He is reported to be one of five freemasons to have refereed the FA Cup Final

FA Cup Final

The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most...

.

Finney had been held in high regard within the domestic game for some time before this match. He was appointed as a linesman in the first European Nations Cup Final held in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1960, assisting Ken Aston

Ken Aston

Kenneth George "Ken" Aston, MBE was an English teacher, soldier, and football referee, who was responsible for many important developments in football refereeing.- Early life and career :...

. In May 1963, Finney was also the referee during the Scotland

Scotland national football team

The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...

 versus Austria

Austria national football team

The Austria national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Austria in international competition and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association ....

 match at Hampden Park

Hampden Park

Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The 52,063 capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland...

, which he abandoned after 79 minutes. Finney later expressed concern that he thought "somebody would have been seriously hurt".

Later he was selected as one of the English referees at the 1966 World Cup

1966 FIFA World Cup

The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...

, gaining some notoriety there for his handling of the Uruguay

Uruguay national football team

The Uruguayan national football team represents Uruguay in international association football and is controlled by the Uruguayan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uruguay. The current head coach is Óscar Tabárez...

 versus West Germany quarter-final in which he sent off Horacio Troche

Horacio Troche

Horacio Federico Troche Herrera is a former Uruguayan footballer.The central defender played 28 times for the Uruguayan national team between 1959 and 1966, and featured at the 1962 World Cup in Chile and at the 1966 World Cup in England...

 and Héctor Silva

Héctor Silva

Héctor Ariel Silva is an Argentine football striker currently playing for Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy.Silva started his playing career with Unión de Santa Fe in 1994, the club were promoted to the Argentine Primera in 1996 and Silva enjoyed two seasons at the top level of Argentine football...

. That was the same day on which the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 referee Rudolf Kreitlein

Rudolf Kreitlein

Rudolf Kreitlein is a former German international football referee from the 1960s.- England v Argentina, 1966 World Cup :...

 sent off Argentinian

Argentina national football team

The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...

 player Antonio Rattin

Antonio Rattín

Antonio Ubaldo Rattín is a former Argentine football player, best known as a Boca Juniors midfielder, and because of an incident in a match at the 1966 FIFA World Cup...

 at Wembley, leading to a suggestion of partiality against the Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an referees.

He officiated at the 1971 League Cup final at Wembley, and had already been given the European Cup

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 final at the same venue, but injuries suffered in a road accident suddenly ended his career before it took place. His position in that European final was taken by Jack Taylor

Jack Taylor (referee)

John Keith "Jack" Taylor is an English former football referee, famous for officiating in the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final where he awarded two penalties during the first 30 minutes.-Refereeing career:...

.

Football administration

Finney later became an official at Hereford United

Hereford United F.C.

Hereford United Football Club is an English professional football club based in the city of Hereford. Founded in 1924, they are competing in Football League Two in the 2011–12 season. Hereford have played at Edgar Street for their entire history and are nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites',...

, and was secretary of Cardiff City

Cardiff City F.C.

Cardiff City Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club competes in the English football pyramid and is currently playing in the Football League Championship. Cardiff City is the best supported football club in Wales, averaging approximately 22,500 for...

.