The death of Joseph Cassar Naudi on Tuesday brought to an end one of the greatest and longest careers in the history of Maltese football.

Cassar Naudi was not only a top-class referee but also served for many years on the Malta Football Association Executive Committee and numerous boards of the local governing body of football.

Born in Msida, Cassar Naudi qualified as a third-class referee in 1945, a time when football in Malta was still dominated by British Service referees.

It took him only two years to reach the top level of refereeing.

The first big match he controlled was the FA Trophy quarter-final between Valletta and Ħamrun Spartans.

He could not have had a more difficult start but came out with flying colours.

Cassar Naudi soon established himself as one of the top Maltese referees.

Popular both with the crowds that frequented the Stadium and with his colleagues, he was elected secretary of the Malta Football Referees Association in 1951, a position he kept up to 1956 when he was voted president of the same association.

In 1958, while attending a government course in the United Kingdom, he became a member of the Birmingham County Referees Association and controlled matches in the Warwickshire Football Combination.

During the same period he completed a course organised by the British FA at Bishop’s Abbey.

In 1961 Cassar Naudi was one of the first three match officials in the history of Maltese football to join the FIFA list.

Always active, Cassar Naudi helped to organise many seminars for up-and-coming young referees.

During the 1964-65 season, he officiated three international matches to earn the coveted FIFA badge.

During his long and eventful career, he had many important appointments in European competitions, international matches and international tournaments.

On the local scene he controlled the FA Trophy final five times and the Cassar Cup final three times.

Cassar Naudi retired his whistle on February 27, 1973 in Taranto where he controlled the U-23 game between Italy and East Germany.

He received many awards for his contribution to the Beautiful Game.

The most prestigious were the ‘Meritorious Award’, given by the English Referees Association, and ‘The Outstanding Refereeing Services Award’ in 2014 by the Malta Football Association.

In 1992 he received the medal Għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika by the Maltese government.

Cassar Naudi’s international career