International Referee: Bill Mullan

(excerpt from 'Scotland's International Football Referees')

by Drew Herbertson

• Bill Mullan in Rotterdam, 11 Oct 1970.

Date of Birth: 30th March 1928
Date of Death: 13th November 2018 aged 90
Admitted to SFA List: 1956-57
No. of seasons at Class 1: 18 (1960-61 to 1977-78)
No. of seasons as a FIFA Referee: 10 (1962-63 to 1963-64 and 1965-66 to 1972-73)
FIFA: 2 World Cup Qualifiers; Intercontinental Cup Final 2nd Leg (1971); Olympics (1972); 1 Olympic Qualifier
UEFA: European Championships (1972); 2 European Championship Qualifiers; 13 Club Competition matches (4 ECCC, 3 ECWC, 1 UC, 1 ICFC)
Other: 2 A Internationals; 2 British International Championship matches; 1 U23 International; 2 League Internationals
Domestic: 1 League Cup Final; 4 Old Firm matches

• Keeping up with George Best! Waterford v Man Utd, 18 Sep 1968.

BILL MULLAN was a leading referee of the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was a FIFA referee for 10 out of 11 seasons from 1962-63, with 1964-65 being the season he missed out. In his own words, he had “drifted” into refereeing aged 21 as he was being kicked too much playing football. The result was an outstanding career and a lifelong commitment and contribution to the refereeing movement.

A PE teacher renowned for his great fitness, Mullan’s first appointment as a FIFA referee, and his only one in his initial two-season spell on the FIFA List, was an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tie in 1962 between Glentoran and Real Zaragoza. Once he returned to the FIFA List, his international career took off and it blossomed in the late 1960’s and came into full bloom in the early 1970’s. European club ties at KR Reykjavik and Sporting Clube de Portugal were fulfilled in the autumn of 1965 and the season was closed with two international friendlies – Republic of Ireland v West Germany and Iceland v Denmark. An Olympic Qualifier between France and Austria in May 1968 was followed in September by being appointed to referee Manchester United’s European Champion Clubs’ Cup tie in Waterford. A few weeks later he refereed the U23 International between Wales and England. His first British International Championship match was at the end of the season – Northern Ireland v England.

Appointments received to ties in the early rounds of the 1969-70 European Champion Clubs’ Cup – Ferencvárosi TC v CSKA Sofia and Spartak Trvana v Galatasaray SK – reflected his growing standing in Europe. In October 1970 he was appointed to referee the European Championship Qualifier, Netherlands v Yugoslavia (the source of the introduction photo).

• All action in the Intercontinental cup final in Montevideo, 28 Dec 1971; Nacional 2 Panathinaikos 1.

Another European Championship Qualifier between West Germany and Poland in October 1971 presaged his greatest international cup appointment. In late December he was chosen to referee the 2nd Leg of the Intercontinental Cup Final between Nacional and Panathinaikos, played in Uruguay. Mullan was one of three European referees selected for the match with none of them knowing who was to be the referee until half an hour before the kick-off. Normal preparations for a match were thrown totally out of the window but in a newspaper interview afterwards, Mullan considered it an excellent system as he considered that there was no pressure on him.

• Paul van Himst (Belgium), Bill Mullan and Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany), Euros Semi-Final, 14 Jun 1972.

1972 was undoubtedly the best year of Mullan’s career as he was selected for the European Championships and the Olympics. The European Championships were at that time a short tournament starting from the Semi-Finals, and Mullan handled the Semi-Final between the host country Belgium and West Germany. At the Olympics in Munich, he refereed Hungary v Brazil and West Germany v East Germany, the latter match being the first ever between the two countries at any level. He had two line appointments in the tournament. The autumn of 1972 was jam-packed with appointments: a UEFA Cup tie, a World Cup Qualifier, Norway v Belgium, a European Cup tie at Panathinaikos and another World Cup Qualifier, Wales v England. He had handled the two countries in the British International Championship at the end of the previous season. Mullan was at the peak of his career but, very unfortunately, early in 1973, he was badly injured in a car crash on the way home from a match. He suffered damage to his left eye and his days as a FIFA referee sadly came to an end at the close of the season.

Mullan regained fitness and returned to refereeing during the following season, wearing a contact lens on his damaged eye. He retired at the end of season 1977-78 at 50, the first season of the retiral age having been introduced. Mullan refereed the famous League Cup Final in 1971 when Partick Thistle shocked the football world by beating Celtic 4-1 and he handled four Semi-Finals in the Scottish Cup. His Old Firm matches were all during his early 1970’s golden period. He was still well regarded after his return from his car crash, being appointed to a League Cup Semi-Final in 1974 and selected to referee the Scottish League’s international against the Football League in 1976.

The SFA appointed Mullan as a Referee Supervisor for Edinburgh & District RA in late 1978 and he served in the role for 21 seasons. For 15 seasons, he was a member of the Referee Supervisors’ Executive Committee. He served his final season associated with the SFA as a Match Assessor in 1999-00. He had had a long involvement in the refereeing movement, acting as Secretary to Fife RA from 1957-58 to 1962-63 and then as Edinburgh & District RA’s Secretary from 1963-64 until his appointment as a Referee Supervisor. Mullan was also a UEFA Referee Observer for a number of years.

• Alex Rae, Bill Mullan & Bobby Murdoch, all set for a classic final, 23 Oct 1971.

	Originally published on 12-Dec-2025.
	Re-published here on The Thistle Archive, 27-Jan-2026.
	Latest edit version, 27-Jan-2026.

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