George Reader (22 November 1896 – 13 July 1978) was an English football referee, known for officiating in the 1950 FIFA World Cup Final.
By profession he was a schoolmaster, going to St Luke's teacher training college (the same one that Ken Aston was to attend) just after the First World War in Exeter.
Unfortunately, that season was abandoned after three games, due to the start of the Second World War, and therefore Reader officially only refereed three Football League matches in his whole career.
In 1948 the Football League took the unusual step of recalling Reader from retirement to referee the Brentford versus Chelsea fixture at Griffin Park.
His swansong, at the age of 50, appeared to be the Rest of Europe versus Great Britain representative match at Hampden Park, held to celebrate the "blessed Peace", but in 1949 England qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.
Despite reservations about his advanced age, Reader's international experience had placed him amongst those the Football Association could call on, and he was selected alongside Mervyn (Sandy) Griffiths (of Wales), George Mitchell (of Scotland) and the two English referees Reg Leafe and Arthur Ellis.
Brazil lost in such a shocking, emotional manner that suicides were reported at the stadium, and Jules Rimet would comment (about the lack of noise from the massed banks of the Maracanã): "The silence was morbid, sometimes too difficult to bear."
Uruguay went on to win and Reader returned home to Hanley Road in Southampton and promptly retired from refereeing, stating that he had had everything that football can give him.