Some Reading supporters at the game against Nottingham Forest expressed surprise on finding that one of the assistant referees was a woman. I am sure, however, that the newly knighted Sir John Madejski would have been pleased with her appointment.
Just before the Madejski Stadium opened, I was lucky enough to get a guided tour. When I went downstairs I sidled off from the group to have a look at the referees’ changing accommodation. I was a little disappointed to find that it was rather small, a tight squeeze I thought for the referee, his two assistants and a fourth official. I later discovered that this was the changing room for any women officials that might be appointed to matches.
I have spoken to Sir John a couple of times and on both occasions he expressed his annoyance that he had been forced to spend thousands of pounds on a changing room that was hardly ever going to be used, so I’m sure he was glad to see it used for the second time.
The original occasion was when Wendy Toms, the first woman to reach the line of the Premiership ran the line at Reading. Having since refereed myself at the Madejski Stadium, I can assure you that the male dressing room is in fact very spacious and well equipped.
The assistant referee was of course Amy Rayner who was involved in a little controversy some while ago when Mike Newell, then at Luton, derided one of her flags against his team and expressed the view that women officials should not be allowed in league football, something for which he was later forced to apologise.
You might think ‘what is a woman is doing in
refereeing?’ is a fair question? Well, Amy would tell you that she wanted to play football when she was a girl but there weren’t any girl’s teams where she lived. So her father suggested refereeing and at £7 a game it sounded better than doing a paper round. She took the referees’ course when she was thirteen and refereed her first game the next Sunday after her fourteenth birthday, the earliest age permitted. That was eighteen years ago and she has been refereeing ever since, gradually working her way through the leagues to where she is now and her ambition is to make it to the Premiership. She also has considerable experience in women’s football. Amy was a woman’s FIFA assistant referee until her promotion to FIFA referee in 2007. She has officiated in Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, Norway and Sweden. She has also refereed the FA women’s Cup Final.
I mention all this because the FA would like to attract more women referees. I think Amy shows what wonderful opportunities there are for women in refereeing today. Locally, our own Alison Chapman, has officiated in both men’s and women’s football and become a FIFA women’s assistant referee. Three English women referees recently travelled to Chile for the FIFA Under 20 Women’s World Cup and Shropshire official Sasa Ihringova actually refereed the final between USA and North Korea. Natalie Walker was assistant referee at the third/fourth play off game. The third member was my boss at the FA, Regional Manager Janie Frampton, who is also a FIFA instructor and she was there to analyse the performance of all the referees in the thirty two matches.
Of course it takes a lot of hard work to get that far in refereeing. Amy Rayner has a full time nine-to-five job as a Financial Analyst with Rolls Royce and trains four nights a week. Luckily her boyfriend is a climber and so is happy to train with her, but it is still a considerable commitment. Any women (or girls) locally who would like to take up refereeing should e-mail johnscot@berks-bucksfa.com or telephone 01367 242099. Despite what Mike Newell might think, you will be most welcome.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2009