Female officials in football

claret50

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What happened to the female official who ran the line for quite a few Prem games last season (may have been the previous season) she took a fair bit of stick in the games that I watched and wondered if she gave the game away or just dropped down a few leagues?
 

SaMcRo

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She was an assistant at the Villa vs Leeds game when I went at the end of last year so maybe she just dropped down. I haven't seen her officiating any other games though.
 
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claret50

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Cheers mate.
 

Super_horns

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Sian Massey?

She got married and had a chid I read somewhere.

As Sa says she is back in action now (and one of the better officials apparently)
 

Meadow

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Sian Massey was an assistant ref for Wolves v Newcastle last month. Apparently she does a lot of women's matches as well.
 

markpvfc

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I think she also got honoured in the New years honours list, MBE or something like that.
 

claret50

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I think she also got honoured in the New years honours list, MBE or something like that.
Thanks for the info, folks, just googled her bio and she comes across as a really lovely person, good to see that she's now back officiating.
 

Veggie Legs

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There was a female assistant ref in the Sutton v Arsenal match the other week, not sure if it was her.
 

markpvfc

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We've had 2 lineswomen in Vale matches this season, not sure how many there are.
 
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She was pretty widely accepted as the best linesperson in the league from what I remember. Certainly made a few good decisions in Sunderland games (both for and against us)
 

johnnytodd

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Misogynistic comments like that are part of the reason why there are so few women in the game. You are part of the problem.
What problem? Football has done pretty well to last 130 years without them.
 

markpvfc

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Natalie Aspinall is set to run the line at Vale vs Sheff Utd on Friday. I think that'll be the 3rd game this season we've had a female liner.
 

The Mustard Tiger

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I don't remember that McNaughton/Massey incident. Fair play to her getting up from it when I've seen male officials selling lesser knocks like they're WWE referees. And it's blatantly obvious that it was intentional from McNaughton too the dirty scumbag.
 

johnnytodd

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i don't think he done it on purpose he was following the path of the ball, fair play to the woman though.
 

TubularBells

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I wondered what happened to her but, as mentioned above. Caught her on a live TV game. Could well have been the Sutton v Arsenal game. You can say what you want, but she is a bloody sight better liney than most men at Premier League level.
 

Cornish Piskie

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What's her arse like though?

Careful....... Andy Gray and Richard Keys had cause to regret making comments like that about Sian Massey into an open mic. It cost them their jobs.

I've met Sian and she's a lovely woman. Very friendly and really dedicated to football. In my opinion it shouldn't be too long before she takes the middle in matches rather than being an Assistant Referee.

Amy Fearn became the first female to referee a League match on 9 February 2010 when she replaced Tony Bates, who suffered a calf strain in the match between Coventry City and Nottingham Forest. She too had suffered controversy in the past because of her gender when, in her maiden name of Amy Rayner, the then Luton Town manager Mike Newell lost it because she didn't flag a penalty for Luton in their match vs QPR in November 2006 which, incidentally, Luton lost.

Newell said to an interviewer that "This isn't parks football. She shouldn't be here. I know this sounds sexist but I am sexist. " Newell only managed to keep his job by making a full apology and accepting a fine of £6500. Luton also warned him as to his future conduct and he must have learned his lesson because he's kept his own counsel on the matter of female officials since then.

It needs to be pointed out here that in both instances, neither woman made a formal complaint about the comments made. The FA took the issues up without being asked to.

In my opinion, there is no reason why females can't officiate in matches, as referees and assistant referees provided they qualify for the job on merit. I don't hold with the idea of quotas, or of promoting a female just because she's a female. Nobody wants to be a token.

Give the job to those who deserve it, regardless of gender. A level playing field. Is that too much to ask.?
 

Ebeneezer Goode

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Any woman that can emerge from a pounding like that with a smile on her face deserves our utmost respect.
 
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Cornish Piskie

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibiana_Steinhaus

The official in question is Bibiana Steinhaus and as you can see from the link, she's very experienced. She has been refereeing in German men's professional football since 2007, but is only now making the step up to the top flight. She refereed the Women's UEFA Champions League Final in Cardiff recently.

Just as a point of interest, she's been in a relationship with Howard Webb since October of last year.

I'd say he's punching above his weight.
 

Cornish Piskie

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<Laughing>. Yep, I'm pretty sure that's Bibi.

She laughed it off and he won his (probable) bet with the boys in the changing room.

I think it's important that female officials show they have a sense of humour. She's clearly not perturbed by a bit of blokey behaviour and if the truth were known, she probably expected that somebody, sooner or later, was going to do something like that either for a laugh or a bet.

Back in the officials changing room, there were probably some ribald comments afterwards about his equipment. Women do locker-room talk too, you know. <wink>

Of course, we wouldn't want to see a rash of boob-groping or other silliness which inevitably would get out of hand (no pun intended) but as a one-off, it's no big deal is it..?
 

Dirk

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Is this her?


WTF? Can't see this video (only the frozen image with the title) because it says
"This video contains material of the Bundesliga. This partner has blocked the video in your country because of copyright reasons"(loosely translated) :crazy:

@Bibiana: I really like her (not only because she's from Lower Saxony) and she deserves to referee now in the Bundesliga. For some years she's already refeered matches in the 2nd Bundesliga, so she should've no problems to step up.

btw: Once Pep Guardiola touched her during a Bayern Munich match when she was the 4th official. Quite some "outcry" here back then ;)


(can't understand the language)




edit: Found this above video in German (with no copyright restrictions). Looks more like an "accident" (that's what the commentator thinks) than an intentional (lockerroom bet intended) breast touch ;)

 
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Cornish Piskie

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The bottom line is that she's got where she has because she's competent and can handle the pressure of officiating in top flight football. I wish her luck in her debut season at the higher level.

There are those who would make a fuss of such incidents and of course the media being what they are will usually try to make a major story out of relatively trivial incidents. I'm not suggesting that sexual assault at any level is trivial, btw, but women have to be aware that some "workplaces" which have been male dominated for a very long time sometimes require a certain give and take on the part of those women who are making the breakthrough, at least in the early stages while women are establishing their presence.

Boys will be boys and women in the workplace have long had to make allowances for that. I certainly had to, as did my sisters and my friends and the girls I went to school and university with when we got our first jobs.

Where Bibiana goes today, others will surely follow tomorrow and those women's career paths won't be made any easier if the trailblazer has created a sour atmosphere by making complaints.

Women shouldn't have to suffer harassment, molestation, degrading or humiliating treatment in the workplace in any way, shape or form, for jokes, bets or any other reason. But a sense of proportion is necessary if we don't want to give those who would hinder our progress an easy opportunity to say "Women are troublemakers, keep them out of our man's game." And it can't be doubted that there are plenty of those around (see comments by Alex Loyal and JohnnyTodd above).

If such incidents started to become commonplace and the level of contact starts to go beyond tolerable levels, then it could become a more serious matter, but it should be noted that (as I stated in previous posts) incidents of sexism in the game so far (that I know of) have been dealt with by the FA concerned taking the matter up without complaint from the woman in question.

As long as the various FA's keep this sort of thing in check of their own volition, and the response is proportionate it will help women to obtain the "level playing field" that is all we ask for.



PS..... I wonder how the player in that video clip would have responded if, say, a gay referee gave him a little squeeze somewhere he didn't want it. Ohhhhh, the fuss THAT would cause..!!
 

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