Thomas Balvay Thomas Balvay Thomas Balvay (2 February 1888 – 15 July 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. He was the only match official from France at the tournament. 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
Theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy Cup for a third time, but in 1983 the trophy was again stolen. A banker and football club agent (although the club, Clube Atlético Mineiro, denies his employment) called Sérgio Pereira Ayres (also known as "Sérgio Peralta") was the mastermind of the theft. Peralta engaged two other men, an ex-police officer called Francisco Rivera (a.k.a. "Chico Barbudo") and a decorator, José Luiz Vieira (a.k.a. "Luiz Bigode"). The two men entered the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF)'s building and, after incapacitating the nightwatchman, stole the trophy and two other trophies, "Equitativa" and "Jurrito". A safecracker, Antonio Setta (a.k.a. "Broa"), revealed that Peralta