Brian McGinlay

Brian McGinlay started refereeing in 1960 and achieved Grade One status in 1972. Between 1978-85, he refereed four Scottish FA Cup finals, including the first two matches in the 1979 Rangers-Hibernian final that went to three matches. In the days before full-time referees, McGinlay dovetailed his footballing pleasure with his job as an office equipment consultant.

Regarded as one of Scotland’s top referees in the 1980s, McGinlay was on the list of FIFA referees between 1976-92 and, as an international referee, officiated at the 1980 European Championships, 1984 Summer Olympics and in all the leading European club tournaments. In total, he refereed nearly 100 international and European club matches. At the 1984 Olympics, he officiated in six games, three as a referee, including the bronze medal match between Yugoslavia and Italy. He ran the line in the Brazil versus Italy semi-final.

McGinlay never officiated in the final stages of the World Cup and, after taking control of three qualifying games for the 1986 tournament, was one of the referees selected to go to Mexico. At the last minute, however, McGinlay resigned amid sexual accusations made against him. Eventually, there was no case against him and he was re-instated two years later, in July 1988, and continued refereeing at the top level until eventually retiring in 1992. After retiring from refereeing, McGinlay became a director of Stenhousemuir FC and was an accomplished after-dinner speaker. He also wrote articles for various newspapers.

Of the many matches McGinlay refereed, including more than 20 Glasgow “Auld Firm” derbies between Celtic and Rangers, the most memorable game he refereed was between Real Madrid and Borussia Münchengladbach at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium on 11 December 1985. It was the second leg of their third round UEFA Cup tie, and the Germans had remarkably won the first leg 5-1. On home soil, the Spaniards bombarded Münchengladbach’s goal from the first minute and the had pulled two goals back within 17 minutes but, with 20 minutes remaining, the score remained the same and Madrid were going out 5-3 n aggregate. Santillana pulled on back in the 76th minute and in the last minute he scored a second to level the match at 5-5 and Madrid went through to the next round on away goals. They went on to beat FC Köln in the final.