Thomas Balvay

Thomas Balvay (b. 1888 - d. 1945) was a football referee in the 1920s and 1930s and one of four European referees who participated in the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay. Indeed he was the only match official from France at the tournament. However, Cris Freddi, an English football historian, has stated that Balvay was an English teacher living in Paris during the 1920s and, as such, he would be one of the first Englishman to have participated in a FIFA World Cup. This has been used by others to underline that he was indeed an Englishman who lived and worked in Paris in the 1920s [1]. Unfortunately, there is nothing to substantiate such a statement and Freddi's assertion should be considered with doubt. (Otherwise George Moorhouse was a Liverpudlian who played for the United States during the tournament).

There is also dispute as to the correct spelling of his name. The French Football Federation record that his name as Georges Balvay and also Thomas Balvay. FIFA indicates that his name was John Balway.

He had been an international referee since 1922 and twice refereed the Coupe de France (in 1926 and 1928).

He travelled to Uruguay on the SS Conte Verde, which also took Jules Rimet and the French, Belgian, Romanian and Brazilian teams to the first World Cup; picking up the teams en route from Genoa to Rio de Janeiro before disembarking at Montevideo harbour.

When the ship docked at Rio Harbour, Balvay learnt that his wife had passed away in France.