Walter Lewington
{{Short description|English football referee and actor (1891–1965)}}
{{Infobox football official
| name = Walter Lewington
| image =
| caption =
| full_name = Walter James Lewington
| birth_date = {{birth date|1891|09|02|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Gillingham, Kent, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1965|05|29|1891|09|02|df=y}}
| death_place = Addiscombe, London, England
| years1 = ?–1939
| league1 = Football League First Division
| role1 = Referee
| internationalyears1 = 1933–39
| confederation1 = FIFA listed
| internationalrole1 = Referee
}}
Walter James Lewington (2 September 1891 – 29 May 1965) was an English football referee who officiated matches in Spain from 1933 to 1939.{{cite web |url=https://eu-football.info/_referee.php?id=1286 |title=Walter Lewington, international football referee |website=eu-football.info |access-date=18 January 2025 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.worldfootball.net/referee_summary/walter-lewington/ |title=Walter Lewington - Matches as referee |website=www.worldfootball.net |access-date=18 January 2025 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.playmakerstats.com/referee/walter-lewington/6031 |title=Walter Lewington - England - Referee Profile |website=www.playmakerstats.com |access-date=18 January 2025 }} He also had a brief acting career.
Refereeing career
Born in Gillingham on 2 September 1891, Lewington received his qualification as a football referee in the early 1920s, and after over a decade of refereeing matches in the Second and First English Divisions, the FA's Referees Committee nominated him as an international referee in 1933, thus becoming o referee of FIFA. As such, he officiated a total of 15 international matches between 1933 and 1939, including four Central European International Cup matches.
On 12 February 1933, the 41-year-old Lewington made his international debut, refereeing a friendly match between Belgium and Italy in Brussels, which ended in a 2–3 win to the latter. He went on to officiate a further two matches of the Italian national team in 1935 and 1937, with the Italians scoring two goals in both matches, all of which being netted by Silvio Piola, who thus registered a ratio of two goals per game in matches refereed by him.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldfootball.net/player_summary/silvio-piola/walter-lewington/3/ |title=Silvio Piola - matches under Referee Walter Lewington |website=www.worldfootball.net |access-date=18 January 2025 }} On 24 January 1935, he refereed a friendly between Spain and France at the Estadio Chamartín, which ended in a 2–0 win to the former;{{cite web |url=https://www.bdfutbol.com/es/en/p/p.php?id=300541 |title=España - Francia (2 - 0) 24/01/1935 |website=www.bdfutbol.com |access-date=18 January 2025 }}{{cite web |url=https://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/1935/01/25/pagina-13/33137681/pdf.html |title=Ayer tarde, en Madrid, se jugó el VI encuentro España - Francia |trans-title=Yesterday afternoon, in Madrid, the sixth match between Spain and France was played |language=es |website=hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com |publisher=La Vanguardia |page=13 |date=25 January 1935 |access-date=18 January 2025 }} the journalists of the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia stated that "Mr. Lewington's refereeing has not been detrimental since he allowed the French to have their say, being tolerant of much violence" and that "he also allowed himself to be influenced by the linesmen".
In November 1936, Lewington helped Austrian sports journalist David Weiss to arrange a 14-day tour of the United Kingdom for the Yugoslavian club Građanski Zagreb, who used this tour as a chance to learn the more advanced tactics of the British clubs, thus adopting the WM formation, which some sources say helped them win the 1936–37 Yugoslav championship.{{cite web |url=https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/articles/football/gradjanski-zagreb-british-tour-of-1936/ |title=Gradjanski Zagreb British Tour Of 1936 |website=www.playingpasts.co.uk |date=10 April 2017 |access-date=18 January 2025 }} In the following year, in March 1937, he and Weiss partnered again to arrange another tour, but this time for a different Yugoslavian club, SK Jugoslavija, and also to a different place, the British Isles, where they faced and lost to an Irish league XI on 17 March.{{cite web |url=https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/articles/football/sk-jugoslavijas-visit-to-ireland/ |title=SK Jugoslavija’s visit to Ireland |website=www.playingpasts.co.uk |date=19 June 2017 |access-date=18 January 2025 }} Just two months later, on 17 May, Lewington refereed an international match between Ireland and Switzerland in Bern, which ended in a 0–1 win to the former.{{cite web |url=http://www.soccerscene.ie/ss_gen/picturegallery.php?id=21&level=sssenior |title=Statistics: Republic of Ireland |website=www.soccerscene.ie |access-date=18 January 2025 }} A few days later, on 27 May, he oversaw a match between Građanski Zagreb and Chelsea in Zagreb, which ended in a 0–1 win to the London club.{{cite web |url=https://gnkdinamo.hr/hr/vijesti/clanak/na-danasnji-dan-2705 |title=Na današnji dan 27.05. |trans-title=On this day 27.05. |language=hr |website=gnkdinamo.hr |date=27 May 2020 |access-date=18 January 2025 }}
Acting career
In 1939, Lewington had a small acting role in the British mystery film The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, which was one of the first feature films where football is a central element in the plot; he played a referee.{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/454405/credits.html |title=BFI Screenonline: Arsenal Stadium Mystery, The (1939) Credits |website=www.screenonline.org.uk |access-date=18 January 2025 }}
Death
Lewington died in Addiscombe on 29 May 1965, at the age of 73.
References
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Category:20th-century English sportsmen
Category:Actors from Gillingham, Kent