Rebecca Welch appointed ref for the Harrogate v Port Vale game on Easter Monday becoming the first ever female to  be appointed to referee an EFL game.

I remember the time when we had a female ref in the conference, home v Bath I think it was. That must have been 7 or 8 years ago, so it's surprising it's taken so long for the first female to ref an EFL game.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12260243/rebecca-welch-to-become-first-female-referee-of-an-efl-game-when-she-takes-charge-of-harrogate-town-vs-port-vale

I assumed Wendy Toms had reffed in the league years ago, but it appears not.

Had to chuckle at the quote in the article: "I'm still trying to let it sink in" *



*chuckle, not because of a tiresome old washing comment, but because of that fella who owns loads of shares in GTFC, you remember him.

  Good Luck to the young lady, I hope she doesn't allow the same disgraceful behaviour with the antics and foul mouth yobbery that goes on on all football pitches.
  I can swear with the best of them but not in mixed company, i know times have changed but i can still remember Mr A Shearer swearing full bloodied on the TV screen and then me trying to explain what he said to my boys.

This is bad news. We have enough terrible referees in L2 with just men refereeing. If they start having women referees too that means the potential for twice as many terrible referees in L2.

Looking forward to a time when female referees aren't newsworthy.

Haven't seen many men refereeing women's games lately. Seems to be one way.

For a long while I used to chase eggs, both codes, and every so often we’d get a lady referee as I played and coached at a low level in reality the ladies where just as good and often kept up with play much better than the male refs we’d get. Players did quite often call the ladies Sir which is the etiquette.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

This is bad news. We have enough terrible referees in L2 with just men refereeing. If they start having women referees too that means the potential for twice as many terrible referees in L2.

And why would she not be as capable or more capable than a male referee?
You should back up your statement with reasoning to make it valid.

I work in a male dominated industry and over the last 10 years have had several female apprentices and have had no issues at all with their capabilities, they are equally able and keen to learn and get on with their job, anyone suggesting otherwise needs to grow up and get real, refereeing a game off football requires a knowledge of the rules, the ability to enforce them and a degree of common sense, a persons gender has no bearing on those requirements whatsoever.

Quoted from Azimuth

And why would she not be as capable or more capable than a male referee?
You should back up your statement with reasoning to make it valid.

🤦🏻‍♂️

Not that this should be a yardstick but......


cant be worse than the men doing it surely ?

There have been some shockers this season again.

She might be sh*t. She might be bloody brilliant. Neither will have anything to do with her being a woman.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

She might be sh*t. She might be bloody brilliant. Neither will have anything to do with her being a woman.

Indeed.

But we obviously still have a few cavemen on this forum.

When referees get things wrong — and they often do — we call it 'human error'.

Male and female referees will get things wrong, but it's important to remember that when they do, it won't be because of their gender, it'll be because they're human.

She can't do any better or worse than what we already have. Let's face it we had Maggie as PM and she lasted years!

As well as human error which is perfectly understandable they often get things wrong as many of them know the rules but don’t know the game.

When I say “wrong” I don’t mean making the wrong call as I think they genuinely give what they see but I mean being influenced by benches and players conning them into giving decisions and/or deliberately slowing down the game.

This has nothing to do with male or female referees, but rather with referees in general. After watching professional football in person and on TV for 50 years now, I believe this is an accurate observation. Referees look at games impartially. Fans look at games through a biased lens. The worse your team is doing, the worse the ref seems to be to the biased fan. This would go a long way towards accounting for the many "crap" referees who have officiated at GTFC matches over the years. Of course referees make mistakes, but then so do players, and so do all the rest of us, but it's been interesting to me to observe over many years how much better the referees seem to be to Town fans when we are the team getting the free kick or the throw in or the corner or the penalty or basically when we are winning. I'm quite sure this is the same for the fans of every team in the world. So let's hope for 9 "good" referees, of whichever sex, for the rest of the season!

" Now that was a naughty foul . I want you to promise me you wont do it again. Go over to the stretcher, tell him you're sorry, give him a kiss and tell him you'll take him some flowers in hospital tomorrow "

I manage at a low standard... Taunton and Somerset  Saturday league div 1. The best ref we've ever had was a young lass two seasons ago. havent seen her since.  I can only assume she's either quit or moved up ranks to the district leagues.

Quoted from lukeo

I manage at a low standard... Taunton and Somerset  Saturday league div 1. The best ref we've ever had was a young lass two seasons ago. havent seen her since.  I can only assume she's either quit or moved up ranks to the district leagues.

Maybe she changed laundry day to Saturday....




Joke...joke...joke...

Quoted from DB

She can't do any better or worse than what we already have. Let's face it we had Maggie as PM and she lasted years!

Yes, Unfortunately she did.

Quoted from DB

She can't do any better or worse than what we already have. Let's face it we had Maggie as PM and she lasted years!

Much as it pains me, I could imagine that twisted witch making a decent referee. She would probably use the free kick spray as mace on anyone with a foreign accent.

Quoted from DB

She can't do any better or worse than what we already have. Let's face it we had Maggie as PM and she lasted years!

Yeah because Michael Foot would have been just what the country needed to get it back from being the sick man of europe

Quoted from smokey111

Much as it pains me, I could imagine that twisted witch making a decent referee. She would probably use the free kick spray as mace on anyone with a foreign accent.

I couldn’t imagine Thatcher embracing VAR.

VAR: “Can you just check that again on the monitor. It looked like a clear handball. The defender caught it!”  

Thatcher: “The lady’s not for turning”

Quoted from mimma

Haven't seen many men refereeing women's games lately. Seems to be one way.

Yer what? The women's game is full of male coaches,male referees, male assistant managers etc.

Quoted from mimma

Haven't seen many men refereeing women's games lately. Seems to be one way.

Next thing you know they will be wanting the vote and to wear trousers. Thin end of the wedge, I am telling you.......