Bio
Arthur Ellis
Born: 1914-07-08
Intl. since: 1948-01-01
Hometown: Halifax, Yorkshire
Country: England
Speaks: English
Occupation: brewery representative
Hobbies:

According to one biography Arthur Ellis started working in a textile factory when he was 14. At 16 he refereed his first match and he has been a Football Leagues referee between 1936 and 1961. Ellis was active at three World Cup finals and in the first ever European Cup final in 1956. He died in 1999.

Battle of Berne

Ellis thought he was going to take charge of the best match of his career: Hungary (then considered the best team) against Brazil. But the 1954 World Cup quarter final was a terrible match and soon became known as the "Battle of Berne". A match full of fouls, Ellis had to send off (there were no red cards in those days) 3 players and he awarded two penalties, one to each team.
Ellis took charge of the 1952 FA Cup final and was a lines man in the 1950 World Cup final..

it's a knockout

Ellis was not the only international referee who had a part in the popular 70's and 80's game show Jeux Sans Frontieres. The English version was called It's a knockout. If you are too young to have seen this (rather dumb) show, there are bits of it on Youtube.

Did you know
KNOCKOUT

  • Apparantly the Brazilians did not play their own game, but played much more defensive which frustrated them. It rained, the field was muddy and the tackling slowly turned to blatant attacks on a player. Ellis was severe. He sent off Nilton Santos and Jozef Bozsik, who was also a Hungarian MP.
    Puskas, the great Hungarian, did not play, but he also joined the fight at the end of the match and people saw him hitting someone with a bottle.
    The police had to remove the Brazilian coach from the field.
    There was a lot of fighting and kicking behind Ellis' back and he had to send off another Brazilian (Humberto Tozzi)
    It is said that the match would never have been finished if not for Ellis. (source: Guardian Obituary)
Statistics
Statistics for ARTHUR ELLIS
Totals Home Away Total
Penalties 11 7 18
Fouls 0 0 0
Yellow 0 0 0
YellowRed 0 0 0
Red 1 2 3
Averages Home Away Total
Penalties 0.18 0.11 0.15
Fouls 0 0 0
Yellow 0 0 0
YellowRed 0 0 0
Red 0.02 0.03 0.02

Based on 61 international matches

Matches
MATCHES FOR ARTHUR ELLIS
Date Score Yellow Red Penalties Fouls
European Cup 1960-1961
1st roundReal MadridBarcelona1960-11-092 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (0-1)0 (0-0)
Euro 1960
finalSoviet UnionYugolsavia1960-07-102 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
friendly
HungaryScotland1960-06-053 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
Germany FRIreland1960-05-110 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
ScotlandGermany FR1959-04-063 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (0-1)0 (0-0)
FranceGermany FR1958-10-262 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
CzechoslovakiaGermany FR1958-04-023 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
Germany FRSpain1958-03-192 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
Germany FRSoviet Union1956-09-151 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
FranceAustria1956-03-253 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
ItalyGermany FR1955-12-182 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
IrelandSpain1955-11-272 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
Soviet UnionFrance1955-10-232 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
NetherlandsBelgium1955-04-031 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
FranceItaly1954-04-111 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
FranceSwitzerland1953-11-112 - 4 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
IrelandAustria1953-03-254 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
Germany FRYugolsavia1952-12-213 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (0-1)0 (0-0)
AustriaFrance1952-10-191 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
Germany FRIreland1952-05-043 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
TurkeyGermany FR1951-11-210 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
BelgiumAustria1951-10-141 - 8 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
Northern IrelandFrance1951-05-122 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
SwitzerlandGermany FR1951-04-152 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
Germany FRSwitzerland1950-11-221 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
FranceBelgium1950-11-013 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
NetherlandsBelgium1949-11-060 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
IrelandSpain1949-06-121 - 4 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
FranceItaly1948-04-041 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
European Cup 1959-1960
1/2 finalsBarcelonaReal Madrid1960-04-271 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
preliminariesBarcelonaCDNA Sofia1959-09-236 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
Euro 1960 qualifiers
1/8 finalsPolandSpain1959-06-282 - 4 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
European Cup 1958-1959
1/2 finalsReal MadridAtlético de Madrid1959-05-132 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1958
group stageCzechoslovakiaArgentina1958-06-156 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (0-1)0 (0-0)
group stageGermany FRCzechoslovakia1958-06-112 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (0-1)0 (0-0)
European Cup 1957-1958
1/4 finalsAC MilanDortmund1958-03-264 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
1/4 finalsDortmundAC Milan1958-02-121 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1958 qualifiers - Europe
NetherlandsAustria1957-09-251 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
FranceIceland1957-02-068 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
European Cup 1956-1957
1st roundGlasgow RangersNice1956-10-242 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
preliminariesAarhus GFNice1956-09-191 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
European Cup 1955-1956
finalReal MadridStade Reims1956-06-134 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
1/2 finalsHibernianStade Reims1956-04-180 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
1/4 finalsHibernianDjurgården1955-11-281 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
1/4 finalsDjurgårdenHibernian1955-11-231 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
1st roundHibernianRot-Weiss Essen1955-10-121 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
1st roundDjurgårdenGwardia Warszawa1955-09-200 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1954
1/4 finalsHungaryBrazil1954-06-274 - 2 0 (0-0)3 (1-2)2 (1-1)0 (0-0)
group stageUruguayCzechoslovakia1954-06-162 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1954 qualifiers - Europe
Northern IrelandScotland1953-10-031 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
friendly tournament
SwitzerlandHungary1952-09-202 - 4 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
Olympic Games 1952
gold medalYugoslavia OTHungary OT1952-08-020 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
2nd roundBrazil OTGermany FR OT1952-07-244 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
1st roundYugoslavia OTSoviet Union OT1952-07-223 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
1st roundYugoslavia OTSoviet Union OT1952-07-205 - 5 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
preliminariesItaly OTUSA OT1952-07-168 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
British Championship
WalesScotland1950-10-211 - 3 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
ScotlandWales1947-11-121 - 2 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1950
final roundBrazilSweden1950-07-097 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)1 (0-1)0 (0-0)
group stageItalyParaguay1950-07-022 - 0 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1950 qualifiers
ScotlandEngland1950-04-150 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)