RateTheRef

Given the 50th anniversary and the lack of much other football to talk about, there has much coverage in the Italian media of the semi-final of the 1970 World Cup, in which Italy beat West Germany 4-3.  An article I was reading over the week-end devoted some space to the match referee, Arturo Yamasaki Maldonado.  As may have been discussed here before, this gentleman has the distinction of having officiated at three World cup final tournaments, representing two different countries (and confederations).  In 1962 and 1966 he represented his native Peru, but thereafter moved to Mexico and represented the home country at the 1970 tournament.

His mentor, one Diego De Leo, seems to have been an even more striking character.  Born in Italy in 1920, he refereed briefly in Serie A, before moving to Latin America, where, according to Italian Wikipedia, he was an international-level referee in four different countries: Colombia, Brazil, Chile and finally Mexico, where he settled in 1963 (all this while retaining his Italian citizenship).  As far as I can make out, he seems to have set himself up as a sort of roving mentor and organiser of referees, being one of the first to do this on a professional basis.
 
Along with Yamasaki he was one of the three Mexican officials at the 1970 World Cup, and the story goes (and given that he seems to have been a mate of Joăo Havelange, it may even be true) that he was pencilled in to handle the final, but he could only do so if neither his native nor his adopted country was involved.  So his protégé rather let him down there. 

The article I read suggested that it was De Leo who suggested/advised/persuaded Yamasaki to move to Mexico.  I think it was thought that the 1968 Olympics and the 1970 World cup offered more opportunities, and I suppose there was no guarantee that Peru would have a representative in Mexico.  It's also possible that Mexico paid better. 

It seems that Diego De Leo was a bit of a chancer whose career was started by what can most charitably be described as a misunderstanding.  When he first arrived in Argentina, he produced a bit of paper from the Italian FA saying that he was qualified to referee in the 'prima divisione'.   What he omitted to say was that the prima divisione was not, as the Argentinians not unreasonably assumed, the highest tier in Italian football, but a relatively lowly regional competition.  You could get away with things like that in 1948.   

Quote from: Acme Thunderer on Tue 16 Jun 2020 11:15

I always thought it was creating problems pencilling in referees for major Finals - Dagnall, Sbardella, De Leo and Davison all come to mind as referees who have fallen at the final hurdle, and there may well be others closer to the present who have missed out on the ultimate honour for good and bad reasons.

Clive Thomas - 1978 ?

I don't think so, even before he caused great controversy in the Sweden v Brazil game. The Italian Gonella was always going to get it in view of international connections, and I think the one who was unlucky was A Klein of Israel who was head and shoulders above any other referee at the finals,  but had to content himself with the 3rd/4th place playoff.