Benjamin Mervyn "Sandy" Griffiths (17 January 1909 – 21 January 1974) was a Welsh football referee from Abertillery, Monmouthshire.
Career Griffiths initially took up a teaching post in Devon but soon returned to Newport and began his refereeing career in 1934 in local leagues. Within five seasons he was appointed to the Football League list as a linesman and, after the War, refereed the England versus Scotland clash in 1949,England 1 Scotland 3 , 1949, with Griffiths refereeing: EnglandFC.com website. and then the 1953 FA Cup Final, otherwise known as the Matthews Final. It was his decision, with two minutes remaining, that enabled Stan Mortensen to equalise from a free-kick awarded just outside the penalty area.
Griffiths represented Wales at the 1950,1950 World Cup Finals, example matches with Griffiths in charge: PlanetWorldCup.com website. 19541954 World Cup Finals, example matches with Griffiths in charge: PlanetWorldCup.com website. and 1958 World Cup Finals.1958 World Cup Finals, example matches with Griffiths in charge: PlanetWorldCup.com website. In the first of these he appeared in the opening fixture, and in the second took charge of the semi-final between Hungary and Uruguay, and assisting William Ling in the final. In the closing minutes of the match, and with the score at 3–2 to the West Germans, Griffiths flagged Hungary's Ferenc PuskásOffside flag from Griffiths, 1954 World Cup Final: Ferenc Puskás - International Football Hall of Fame website. offside, just as he beat Toni Turek in the German goal.A number of sports historians, including the Turek biographer Werner Raupp, tend to assume that the goal was a regular goal. Raupp refers to the German substitutes who were sitting at the same height, especially Alfred Pfaff of Eintracht Frankfurt, as well as to more recent footage (e.g. German TV: ZDF, 4 July 2004: „Das Wunder von Bern“). See: Werner Raupp: Toni Turek – „Fußballgott“. Eine Biographie, Hildesheim: Arete Verlag 2019 (ISBN 978-3-96423-008-9), p. 111-114.
He was the first Welshman to referee an international at Wembley, the first from his country to referee an FA Cup Final, and the only Welshman to appear in a World Cup final.
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