Recently I had a short discussion on Twitter with Ben van Maaren and Javier Bravo about goal referees.

@ClioMZ
Hello Petra, please read this thread. My Spanish friend, Javier Bravo, sent me this photo of a “juez de gol”, a goal line referee. They were active for about 20 years in Spain, from the 1910s till the 1930s. Isn’t that fascinating? Have you ever heard of this? https://t.co/zsRxL73C03

— RefBooks (@RefereeingBooks) July 12, 2020

I knew until now that they were used in the sport association of workers in Germany in the 1920s. And that the minute from AGM 1893 by The IFAB mentioned them. But I only suspected that these are not the only two mentions. Goals are too important for football – both economically and psychologically.

But the fact that goal referees were appointed in Spain for probably more than 25 years, and that they were in the top league, also surprised me.

•

In the minute of The IFAB there is no criticism to the RFEF, the Spanish Football Federation. The association was a founding member of FIFA and almost permanently its member.

In the article on football and technology, I have therefore added a passage on goal referees.

But it also affected competitive matches played by members of FIFA. In the top Spanish league, goal referees („juez de gol“) were appointed from 1914 at the latest. This was not a brief experiment, although the Spanish Football Association was a member of FIFA from the very beginning (with one brief exception). Goal referees existed in Spain until 1939. Ein spanischer Bericht verwendete eins der damaligen Fotos für seinen Bericht über Michel Platins Forderung nach Torrichtern „UEFA president Michel Platini wants to get him back to oversee what happens in the areas. The goal judge returns.“ is the English translation of the title of this Spanish article. Further articles about goal judges in Spain are „El ‘test del gol’, peor hoy que hace cien años“ and „La UEFA ensaya con dos jueces de gol„.

The article can be found here.