Female football referees: The increase in participation across English football
Football is an ever-evolving sport with the constant introduction of new technologies along with the influx of billionaires looking to invest in clubs all over the world. Despite these enhancements within the game, the representation of female referees in men's football in England has been scarce.
Female referees are very prominent in women’s football in England with 14 of the 31 referees in last season’s Women’s Super League campaign being female, 10 of which made the most appearances out of all referees. We've also seen the likes of Sian Massey-Ellis and Natalie Aspinall operate as assistant referees on a regular basis in the Premier League.
On Saturday 4th November, Rebecca Welch became the first female fourth official in a Premier League match for Fulham’s home match against Manchester United at Craven Cottage. Had referee John Brooks for any reason been unable to officiate the match after it had kicked off, Welch would have taken over as referee, and in doing so would have become the first female to ever referee a Premier League match.
This appointment received widespread publicity from some of the biggest media publications in the UK...
One month after being named as the first female fourth official in the Premier League, Welch became the first female to referee a Premier League game during Burnley's 2-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage on December 23.
Burnley manager Vincent Kompany told Sky Sports after the match that he saw Welch's appointment as a milestone moment, and said that he was happy to have been part of history.
Now that England has seen it's first female referee in its top division, what about the other of Europe's top five leagues?
Which of Europe's top 5 leagues have used female referees?
The French Ligue 1 has a trailblazer of their own, with Stéphanie Frappart establishing herself as a regular referee for Ligue 1 matches. She became the first female to referee a Ligue 1 game in April 2019, and has since refereed another 70 matches in the league, including 20 matches last season.
Source: Transfermarkt
The Italian Serie A also appointed their first female referee last season. Maria Caputi refereed three games last season and has refereed a further three matches this season in Italy’s top flight, with Alfredo Trentalange, president of the Italian Referees Association, insisting that her promotion to Serie A was down to merit rather than privilege.
Source: Transfermarkt
Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb became the first female to referee at Bundesliga match in 2017 during a 1-1 draw between Hertha BSC and Werder Bremen. She then went on to referee 22 more Bundesliga games over the next three years, before announcing her retirement from refereeing in 2020.
Sources: BBC, Transfermarkt
Spain is yet to see a female referee in the men's La Liga. In fact, the first round of fixtures in Spain's woman's Liga F was suspended in September due to the female referees going on strike, asking for professional status and payment in line with officials in the men's La Liga.
Source: BBC
The Premier League saw it's first female referee in December 2023 in the form of Rebecca Welch. So, now that this barrier has been broken, what is the Football Association doing to try and encourage females to take up refereeing at grassroots level?
Gameplan for Growth
In 2017, the FA set up their Gameplan for Growth scheme with the aim of making them a world leader in women’s refereeing by 2020. The scheme committed to increasing the number and diversity of women refereeing in English football at all levels by developing the FA’s refereeing structure.
They implemented a Women’s Refereeing Manager, Joanna Stimpson, who was tasked with developing a supportive pathway to recruit, train, deploy and mentor more women and men to referee at every level of the women’s game.
The results four seasons later in 2020 showed that the number of FA-qualified female referees across the country had increased by 72 per cent from 1,247 to 2,146 referees. Joanna Stimpson attributed these improvements to “actively promoting refereeing as a hobby, a part-time job, for fitness, fun, friendships, learning, as a potential career option and as a gateway to some incredible experiences.”
Source: The FA
Grassroots Level
At county level, female participation at grassroots is constantly growing, with 88 female referees currently registered in Surrey. Craig Hicks, Referee Development Officer for the Surrey FA, explained what the Surrey FA are currently doing to encourage females to take up refereeing.
The Surrey FA hired Elle Kaplicz as their female referee ambassador, a Level 2 W referee who is eligible to referee in the Women's Championship. She is in place to offer guidance and advice to female referees in Surrey, and acts as a figure that those females may find more relatable to speak to about their issues rather than if a male was in the same role.
"It’s really important for us to have a female ambassador that’s out there doing the job where with any female referee if they need to speak to someone, they might feel comfortable speaking to another female referee rather than maybe pick up the phone to me, because maybe I can't necessarily relate to them on that level."
The Surrey FA are using female imagery in their marketing materials in order to appeal to more females, illustrating to any females wanting to get into refereeing that it is not just a male-based profession and that there are examples of relatable figures in the roles being advertised.
The FA have set up a Centre of Refereeing Excellence, a structure which aims to provide referees with quality training, education and development opportunities. Withing the Centre of Refereeing Excellence is the FA Core, for referees who are showing more signs of potential to progress in refereeing.
Currently, 7 of the 88 female referees in the FA Core are operating in Surrey, and they will be provided with more support and training to help them take the next step in their development towards becoming a top-level referee.
Craig Hicks, Credit: Surrey FA
Craig Hicks, Credit: Surrey FA
Mr Hicks also attributed the increase in female participation in refereeing at grassroots level to the growing popularity of women's football as a whole, with more matches being televised providing plenty of inspiration for young women to not only take up football, but also specifically refereeing.
"I think it's really important to know that women's football on the whole is now on a larger scale. It’s on TV on BBC and Sky, so females are seeing female footballers mainly, but also seeing female officials where they can go ‘You know what, I want to give that a go.’ So for us, like most of women's football in this country, it's very much still on that upward trend, which is fantastic."
He attributes this to the work being done at county level to support the female game with regards to the improving training, education and development for female referees.
In November 2023, Hicks was confident that we would see a female referee in the Premier League very soon, saying it would be 'a lot sooner than what people think', and he was proven to be right.
Sally Lockyer, CEO of the Surrey FA, said that female participation was their biggest area of growth in their annual strategy, and that in 10 years they want to see parity between the male and female game.
"We set about that in 10 years, we wanted to have parity between the male and female game, and we're on a trajectory to do that. So if we grow 25 to 30% each year, which is what we've done in the last three years, will meet that trajectory and everything outside in the environment is enabling us to do that with the interest in the women's game.
The FA has an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy that sets out to improve all three areas withing both the women and men's games, and the Surrey FA were recently recognised for their efforts by winning the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award at the County FA Recognition Awards on Thursday 23rd November.
"We set out a couple years ago to deliver a long-term strategy, and our vision for football in Surrey is to make football in Surrey inclusive, safe, sustainable, and fun. So we've put those key things right in our vision, so it sits at the heart of everything we do."
Sally Lockyer, Credit: Surrey FA
Sally Lockyer, Credit: Surrey FA
Hayley Samuel completed her refereeing course with the Worcestershire FA in October.
She volunteered to referee her two sons' match one weekend when there was no referee available, and afterwards decided to get her full qualification.
"I’ve got two boys that both play for Welland Football Club, and in one match they didn’t have a referee. We’ve got a WhatsApp ground and there were various messages going around, so first they asked my husband as he’s a coach, but he couldn’t do it. So, as a joke one of the other mums said 'Well Hayley, you’ll have to do it' and I went 'that’s absolutely fine'."
Whilst she doesn't want to progress further up the pecking order in refereeing, she is very happy referee at grassroots level to ensure that her kids always have a referee on hand if they need one.
She also hopes that more people will sign up and take the same course she did so that kids across the country do not encounter the same issue.
If you want to learn more about how to get into refereeing, visit the FA website:
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