04-27-2018, 01:28 AM
Uncontroversial, non-dictatorial and magnanimous are not adjectives I would associate with Clive Thomas,” wrote Clive White in the Times in April 1981, after “a ludicrous penalty award” had handed Wolves a last-minute equaliser against Tottenham in an FA Cup semi-final. “There is a view that the best referees make themselves as inconspicuous as possible. I am not sure that Mr Thomas shares that belief, because the star performer before an audience of 50,000 and millions more peering through the keyhole of television was unquestionably Mr Thomas. It was the Clive Thomas Spectacular Show.” ![[Image: yankees_057.jpg]](http://www.officialyankeesproshop.com//img/mlb_jerseys_new/new_york_yankees/yankees_057.jpg)
Three years later David Lacey described Thomas in the Guardian as “one of football’s better referees”. Yet “when controversy has thrown its arms around Clive’s neck he has tended to linger lovingly in the embrace. What Clive does have is a keen sense of history. The fall of Jericho would have been delayed while Thomas booked the wall. At the Battle of Copenhagen Nelson would have been cautioned for dissent. At Waterloo Blucher would have been sent off for entering the field late and without permission.” In April 1977 Thomas took charge of another Cup semi-final, a Merseyside derby, in which he disallowed a perfectly good late winner for Everton – for handball, though he admitted that “in no way could I have seen the ball make contact with his hand or his arm” – because he wasn’t sure what else Bryan Hamilton might have used to divert it into the net (it came off his hip). In the 1981 League Cup final he allowed a 117th-minute Liverpool goal even though the ball passed just over the prostrate and clearly offside Sammy Lee, dismissing his linesman’s raised flag without consultation. Then there was the game between West Ham and Birmingham City in February 1974, a tense encounter between two sides battling relegation. The game ended 0-0, but Thomas’s officiating inspired the crowd to launch into a chorus of the then-popular terrace anthem, Oh, Oh, What a Referee! And Thomas joined Womens Andrew Whitworth Jersey in with gusto. “There I was on television, singing away,” he wrote. “Ken Aston of Fifa was at that match and he told me I’d had a good game, but Kevin Johnson Womens Jersey I wonder if he saw me doing that singing. I feared that that was not the http://www.officialauthenticredskinsstore.com/womens_sammy_baugh_jerseysort of thing they were looking for.” Aston, it turned out, was far from offput. Thomas became the second-youngest referee at that summer’s World Cup, and though he took charge of only two group games he was involved, in a manner of speaking, throughout the competition. Referees were still emphatically amateur, and Thomas paid his bills by producing and selling referee’s equipment. And so it was that every official in Argentina sported the Clive Thomas Kit, composed of Terylene shorts and Crimplene jersey. “His experiments with kit,” the Guardian enthused, “have helped to invest the ranks of referees with a little more elegance.” By the 1978 World Cup Thomas was 41 and in his prime, if no longer in the kit supply business (he worked for an office cleaning company at the time, heading to Argentina with a pledge to make footballers “keep it clean”). To say he failed to enjoy the tournament would be an understatement: in his autobiography Thomas described it as “a month of disillusionment with football administration, my colleagues, the organisation of set-pieces, the general politics of the game and the behaviour of some of those at the highest level”; it was here he was to ascend to international infamy. In his book he describes the moment for which he is now best remembered as “probably the most controversial decision that any referee has ever made, a decision which reverberated around the world”. His first assignment was a group game between 1958 finalists, Brazil and Sweden. It was not likely to be straightforward, with Brazil carrying the pressure of favouritism and a reputation for brutality. Before the match Sweden’s manager, Georg Ericson, described Brazil as “dirty”. “Thankfully,” he said, “we have got a strong referee in Clive Thomas, generally regarded as the best one here.” The first 90 minutes of the match have been forgotten. Thomas Sjöberg put Sweden ahead in the 37th minute, and Reinaldo equalised in first-half stoppage time. The score remained 1-1 as the match neared its conclusion. Brazil, pushing for victory, won a corner, and then another, and, in the dying seconds, a third. Nelinho, the right-back, prepared to take it. He was in no hurry. He placed the ball outside the arc, and the Polish linesman, Alojzy Jarguz, told him to move it. Thomas checked his http://www.officialsanfranciscogiantsshops.com/WOMENS-MATT-WILLIAMS-JERSEY.html watch. Six seconds of stoppage time had been played, and though the ball had not been in play for any of it, he thought it was almost over. Nelinho finally took the kick and, with the ball in the air, Thomas blew his whistle and turned for the tunnel. Behind him Zico headed the ball into the net. cheap jerseys china cheap jerseys free shipping wholesale jerseys from china cheap nfl jerseys
Three years later David Lacey described Thomas in the Guardian as “one of football’s better referees”. Yet “when controversy has thrown its arms around Clive’s neck he has tended to linger lovingly in the embrace. What Clive does have is a keen sense of history. The fall of Jericho would have been delayed while Thomas booked the wall. At the Battle of Copenhagen Nelson would have been cautioned for dissent. At Waterloo Blucher would have been sent off for entering the field late and without permission.” In April 1977 Thomas took charge of another Cup semi-final, a Merseyside derby, in which he disallowed a perfectly good late winner for Everton – for handball, though he admitted that “in no way could I have seen the ball make contact with his hand or his arm” – because he wasn’t sure what else Bryan Hamilton might have used to divert it into the net (it came off his hip). In the 1981 League Cup final he allowed a 117th-minute Liverpool goal even though the ball passed just over the prostrate and clearly offside Sammy Lee, dismissing his linesman’s raised flag without consultation. Then there was the game between West Ham and Birmingham City in February 1974, a tense encounter between two sides battling relegation. The game ended 0-0, but Thomas’s officiating inspired the crowd to launch into a chorus of the then-popular terrace anthem, Oh, Oh, What a Referee! And Thomas joined Womens Andrew Whitworth Jersey in with gusto. “There I was on television, singing away,” he wrote. “Ken Aston of Fifa was at that match and he told me I’d had a good game, but Kevin Johnson Womens Jersey I wonder if he saw me doing that singing. I feared that that was not the http://www.officialauthenticredskinsstore.com/womens_sammy_baugh_jerseysort of thing they were looking for.” Aston, it turned out, was far from offput. Thomas became the second-youngest referee at that summer’s World Cup, and though he took charge of only two group games he was involved, in a manner of speaking, throughout the competition. Referees were still emphatically amateur, and Thomas paid his bills by producing and selling referee’s equipment. And so it was that every official in Argentina sported the Clive Thomas Kit, composed of Terylene shorts and Crimplene jersey. “His experiments with kit,” the Guardian enthused, “have helped to invest the ranks of referees with a little more elegance.” By the 1978 World Cup Thomas was 41 and in his prime, if no longer in the kit supply business (he worked for an office cleaning company at the time, heading to Argentina with a pledge to make footballers “keep it clean”). To say he failed to enjoy the tournament would be an understatement: in his autobiography Thomas described it as “a month of disillusionment with football administration, my colleagues, the organisation of set-pieces, the general politics of the game and the behaviour of some of those at the highest level”; it was here he was to ascend to international infamy. In his book he describes the moment for which he is now best remembered as “probably the most controversial decision that any referee has ever made, a decision which reverberated around the world”. His first assignment was a group game between 1958 finalists, Brazil and Sweden. It was not likely to be straightforward, with Brazil carrying the pressure of favouritism and a reputation for brutality. Before the match Sweden’s manager, Georg Ericson, described Brazil as “dirty”. “Thankfully,” he said, “we have got a strong referee in Clive Thomas, generally regarded as the best one here.” The first 90 minutes of the match have been forgotten. Thomas Sjöberg put Sweden ahead in the 37th minute, and Reinaldo equalised in first-half stoppage time. The score remained 1-1 as the match neared its conclusion. Brazil, pushing for victory, won a corner, and then another, and, in the dying seconds, a third. Nelinho, the right-back, prepared to take it. He was in no hurry. He placed the ball outside the arc, and the Polish linesman, Alojzy Jarguz, told him to move it. Thomas checked his http://www.officialsanfranciscogiantsshops.com/WOMENS-MATT-WILLIAMS-JERSEY.html watch. Six seconds of stoppage time had been played, and though the ball had not been in play for any of it, he thought it was almost over. Nelinho finally took the kick and, with the ball in the air, Thomas blew his whistle and turned for the tunnel. Behind him Zico headed the ball into the net. cheap jerseys china cheap jerseys free shipping wholesale jerseys from china cheap nfl jerseys