English officials Sasa Ihringova, Lisa Rashid and Jane Simms give an account of their recent experience in France for the International Women’s Friendly game France v Brazil

On Wednesday 6 March, we had the pleasure of officiating a fantastic game of football, France v Brazil ladies. 

The two teams are ranked numbers four and five in the world respectively. They are from different continents and therefore the styles of football they play are very different.

We do not regularly get the opportunity to referee teams from different continents, so this was going to be a great experience, a challenge and an opportunity for development.

Shortly after we received the appointment from The FA, the match preparations began.

About two weeks before the match, we received our flight details and organised the rest of our travel arrangements. 

During the days leading up to the trip, there were more exchanges of e-mails confirming what kit we would be taking.

We were very happy to learn that a communications system was made available by the PGMOL and we would use it for the first time as a team.
 
The day before the game, we flew out to Luxembourg where we were met by Stephane Villemin and Romuald Burgois, the two representatives of the French Football Federation.

We were driven to our hotel and enjoyed a stroll around Nancy. We went out for dinner that evening to a classical French restaurant to experience the ambience, including trying snails! Over an excellent dinner, we had conversations about the game and we were joined by Flo, the fourth official from France.

The next day was match day and even though the game was a friendly, it was treated extremely professionally by the hosting Association.

We started the day with the official technical meeting at the AS Nancy team stadium, a top league 20,000 capacity stadium.

There was a review of the pitch and changing facilities and at 11am and the pre-match meeting was held with representatives from both teams to decide kit colours, medical provisions and instruct the teams on refereeing matters.

After the meeting we went back onto the pitch to test the communication system. We had been advised that sometimes the frequencies have to be adjusted abroad. After an initial silence, the three engineers managed to reset the frequency channels and we started looking forward to the game.

That afternoon we had a pre-match brief at the hotel where match instructions were discussed and at 4.45pm, we left for the stadium. 

As we arrived, there were a lot of supporters already there, and the gates were not even open yet!

We looked at the pitch again before getting changed and getting our mindset ‘in the zone’. 

An hour before kick-off, the fourth official went to do the first kit check with the teams and as we went out to warm-up, the atmosphere was already great. 

The crowd were in good spirits, doing Mexican waves and the excitement was building. 

Even though we were shortly going to be officiating two of the best football teams in the world, we had to remain calm, focused and be professional, remembering we were representing The FA.

The bell was pressed, a final kit check was done and we were walking out onto the pitch where team photos were taken and national anthems were sung. When the whistle was blown, we were all very well in ‘game mode’.
 
During the match we were able to talk to each other. Communication was kept to a minimum but was a great tool in ensuring we all signalled the same, maintaining a high level of consistency. It meant that we could communicate when someone was in an offside position, and whether they were actually interfering. 

Using the communication system was great and enhanced our team work during the game. The main objective, however, was to ensure that we executed the basics such as ‘signalling’, ‘leading’ with the flag and ‘blind’ signals. We all made sure we did not solely rely on the headsets.
 
The game was fast paced and competitive, yet played in a ‘fair play’ style.

Brazil took the lead twice before France equalised from a penalty kick in the 86th minute. As the final whistle was blown, we smiled, coming off the pitch knowing we had done a good job and the adrenaline was still pumping.

Once in the dressing room, we congratulated each other on our performances and discussed the most important points in the game.

We were greeted by Nelly Viennot, the first woman to regularly appear at crucial Champions League games as an Assistant Referee and found out there had been almost 17,000 spectators at the game, and over 67,000 had streamed the game live!

We then left the stadium and headed back to the hotel.  That evening during dinner, we discussed the game and asked Stephane and Romuald for their constructive feedback.

As the game was a friendly, there was no UEFA Observer, no formal report or a mark for the game. Stephane and Romuald, two top and experienced ex-referees in France, were our best way of informal but objective feedback to improve for our next match.

The next day we were driven back to Luxembourg where we would start our journeys home, we thanked our liaison officers for their exemplary hosting and said our goodbyes.

Once we got home, we all reflected on the ‘trip’ together and shared the experience with our loved ones.

What a great time we had, officiating over a fantastic game of football! We are all looking forward to our next match.