Supporting the women in black

As a female referee you are often met with surprise or intrigue. We always knew that we would be in the minority of football officials in the country, but we were surprised to discover that of the 24,000 registered referees, only 1,066 are female.

This statistic has prompted The FA to implement strategies for the development of female referees. It is because of this we found ourselves at County Office at a Female Referee Development Workshop.

The workshop was run by Janie Frampton, FA Regional Referee Manager & FIFA Instructor. She began by outlining the challenges faced by female referees who are disadvantaged by a historically ‘male’ game: lack of changing facilities, comparative size and physical presence, and the belief still held by some that women ‘don’t know what they are doing’. This view was publicised in 2007 when the then Luton manager, Mike Newell, was fined £6,500 by The FA for his disparaging comments about a female assistant referee who has since gone on to be promoted to the FIFA referees list.

At the workshop we also discussed the many challenges that are faced by referees – male and female alike. Janie gave us great practical advice on how we can use our personalities as females to meet these challenges head on. She was keen to point out, that as female referees, we have a number of role models, including Amy Rayner, Helen Fulcher-Ward and Wendy Toms, who made history as the first woman to referee at national league level, when Woking played Telford in the Vauxhall Conference in 1996.

Times have changed since Janie and her good friend Wendy first qualified as referees. We now have a Women’s Strategy, with The FA implementing a dedicated Women’s Pathway. This Pathway replaces what was once referred to as the Parallel Pathway. The new Women’s Pathway gives female referees the chance to reach the top level of the profession whilst having the choice to officiate only women’s football. These are exciting times with the planned introduction of the Women’s Super League in 2011, running during the summer months with matches due to be televised on major sports channels. 

Janie gave a motivational presentation that culminated in her belief that female referees should be highly visible in the game at all levels. It was clear that Janie is passionate about, and highly dedicated to, developing females within the profession. She herself is an inspiration to female referees.

The next meeting of the Female Development Group will be on Thursday 17 September 2009 at Surrey County FA’s office in Leatherhead and we would encourage other female referees to get involved.