'Pick of the Past'
in last Wednesday's Evening Post, certainly struck a cord in my memory. It was a photo of Wendy Prior making history in 1977, when she became the first woman referee in local football, taking charge of the Reading League game, Beenham
Reserves v Reading University A.
In fact Wendy wasn't the first woman locally to pass the referees' examination. In 1975, Janice Stanley, a physical training teacher from Tilehurst, daughter of local referee George Fern, took the examination along with her husband. What's more, Janice had the highest marks of anyone on the course but she couldn't register as a referee. Women weren't allowed to become referees and so we had to present her with a special certificate. Ironically, 1975 was International Womans Year and the year the first sex discrimination act was passed.
I remember writing at the time, 'In view of the new legislation, how long can the FA continue with this discrimination?' Of course the FA changed its rules in time to allow Wendy not just to take the examination but to actually go out and referee.
After that game in 1977, Wendy said that she had been nervous for the first fifteen minutes but the lads had helped her as there was no dirty stuff and she hadn't had to pull anyone up. I can tell you from personal experience, that Wendy was a very good referee, well respected by players. Even in those days I was a referee mentor, that is to say someone who takes time out to watch other referees and discuss their game with them, as I did with Wendy.
One comment Wendy made about her first game was that she felt that sometimes her whistle didn't have the authority she would have liked. Interestingly, the only thing I could comment on when I watched her was that she whistled too much. She whistled for everything even for the ball going out of play. The whistle is a very important tool for a referee and by not blowing it incessantly, I explained to her, it then has more authority when it is blown. Since that time, on our training courses we have included a practical session, on blowing the whistle.
I think Wendy was brave going out into men's football but she was a real football fan - as all referees are - and she played football herself for Bracknell and Reading Ladies. Although women's football is seen as something modern, it actually started in the 1890s and was very strong after the first World War. The FA found this such a serious threat to the idea of football as a mans' game, that it banned womens' football in 1921. It carried on unofficially until the ban was lifted after the sex discrimination act.
'Pick of the Past' last week, made the comment, that Wendy's historic move doesn't seem to have opened the floodgates for women referees. We do have a steady number of women and girls going through our courses. Two young ladies were successful on our latest course that finished a couple of weeks ago.
The most successful one to pass through our training, has been Alison Chapman, who progressed right up to FIFA assistant referee. But it is true that we would like more. I know that some of the women playing football locally read this column, for when I refereed one womans' game they said to me, 'Aren't you the bloke from the Post'. So let me make an appeal to them: if you are giving up playing, why not think about refereeing? Alison Chapman has shown that the opportunities are there. Unfortunately our next course is full but we still have places on the waiting list for the one after that. Who knows, you could make history by being the first woman referee on the Premiership.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2006