On Saturday 9th October 2021, the World Cup qualifier between Andorra and England saw an all female referee/officials team take charge of a professional men’s international game.
The all female team consisted of Ukrainian referee Kateryna Monzul, and her two Ukrainian assistants Maryna Striletska and Svitlana Grushko.
It marked a historic moment for female referees as it was the first time in history an England men’s senior international match had been refereed by a woman.
Before and after the match the all female team received lots of praise across various social media platforms such as twitter, facebook and instagram. As overall, they were described to have done a “good job” and to have not got a decision wrong on the night.
A local grassroots football female referee for the boys/men’s game Chloe Matthews said: “It was amazing! What a breakthrough for not only female refereeing but women in sport!
“I was so pleased to see that this achievement had been recognised by so many people. Knowing that all the officials involved, even down to the VAR’s were female was such an inspiration to me, as a referee trying to progress through the levels.”
– Chloe Matthews
The announcement of the all female team for the England match came shortly after ex professional men’s referee Mark Clattenburg described women to “have to choose whether to be pregnant or become referees.”
Monzul (the referee from the England game) is a very experienced referee as she previously was part of the first all-female refereeing team to officiate when San Marino faced Gibraltar in the Nations League in November 2020.
The appointment of the all female team also came just over a year after Rebecca Welch became the first female referee appointed to take charge of an EFL game, Harrogate Town’s 2-0 home defeat to Port Vale in April (2020).
Chloe added: “These female referees are breaking down the barriers and hypothetical walls to show that if you want to achieve something, you can do it!
“Up until recently, it had always been the case where only male officials operated men’s international games and female officials only operated female international games. I’m so pleased to see that this has now changed and a whole team of female referees have gone out and proven that it can be done no matter what.”
An announcement by The FA (Football Association) in 2020, revealed that since 2016 the amount of female referees involved with all levels of English football across the country had risen by 72%.
From the report in 2020, the number of female referees was 2,146. This number has certainly increased over the last year.
Predominantly, these referees were officials for women’s games however, due to the rise of female referees being involved with men’s professional games set to increase in the coming months, more females are getting inspired to push the boundaries further and have a go at a career within the men’s game.
Chloe said: “I think they (females) should be given more of a chance in the men’s game, and I think they will in time.
“Ultimately, it comes down to whether that match official is good enough to operate at that level, regardless of their gender. So hopefully in a few years, female referees operating in the men’s game will become ‘the norm’ a bit like it is for male referees to operate in the women’s game.”
The idea of female referees becoming ‘the norm’ in men’s professional football is still far away from being accepted by everyone. However, with the success of the all female team in Andorra a few weeks ago and the success of Rebecca Walsh last year, more young females are becoming inspired to become professional referees for both the men’s and women’s game in the future.
EL Loko Foto
Chloe concluded: “With the passion I have for football and refereeing, if I was ever presented with the opportunity to become professional, I would absolutely take it if it was the right thing for me.
“Obviously, personal circumstances have to be taken into account but I would do everything possible to make it work.
“Having been involved in football from a young age, going through school I was always told you can’t do football professionally (thinking as a player at that point before I was a referee), and just to play football at school was a challenge enough!
“So, if I was presented with that opportunity, I think that would be something really special to me. Being able to call myself a professional in the game I love, it would be a dream.”
To conclude, the FA said in a statement that they are still “not where they want to be” in terms of female referees. In fact by 2024 they aim to increase the amount of female referees from all backgrounds even further across all levels of football.
So, who knows, maybe one day there will be both males and females refereeing each gender’s professional matches, or a mixed team in every professional football match all across the country or maybe even all over the world.
Sporty AF 