Talk: Misters, masters and mistakes. British referees in South America in the 1950s, by Dr Pete Watson

This talk discusses the stories and experiences of British football referees who, in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, were contracted by football federations across South America to referee league matches and international tournaments. Signed in order to solve problems of violence from players and fans as well as a lack of trust in local referees, British referees suddenly found themselves refereeing some of the fiercest local derbies at some of the greatest stadiums of world football. This talk will discuss some of the men in detail who worked in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia, the tournaments they were involved with, the challenges they faced, the scandals they were involved with and the dynamics around the meeting of different understandings of how football should be played. This work is part of an ongoing research project with Alexander Jackson of the Football Museum. 

Dr Pete Watson is a lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Leeds. He is an expert on Latin American football history, culture and politics, and is author of the book ‘Football in Colombia: The Only Thing that Unites Us’. He regularly appears on podcasts discussing various aspects of his research. You can find his work at https://linktr.ee/drpetewatson. He was named Teacher of the Year at the University of Leeds partnership awards for 2025-26. 

This is a Leeds City of Languages Festival event.
Check the full programme at leedscityoflanguages.leeds.ac.uk