WOMEN FOOTBALL REFS: KITCHENS, SEXISM AND THE OFFSIDE RULE
By Ian Felice, Partner, Hassans International Law Firm Limited, Gibraltar
Women referees are, again, in the news as the object of abuse.
Remember that time you were so upset at how your waitress brought your food to the table that you flew into a rage? Or how you hurled a tirade of abuse at the airline security lady who asked you for your boarding card? And did not your bank manager deserve your jumping in her face whilst telling her how lousy she was when you were refused credit?
Many reasonable, right-minded people will truthfully answer: “no, that’s never happened!” Yet roughly 40,000 otherwise reasonable, right-minded people (being the average attendance for a Premiership football match) seem to have little compulsion, once a week, in unloading all their frustrations on the lonely figures in the middle of the pitch tasked with keeping the game within the rules. That is right, the referees.
In what other profession - even when you are the very best at what you do - is it part of your job description to withstand untold levels of abuse? Or be subjected to scrutiny of the highest order, not just from your assessors and observers but from pundits, journalists, coaches, 18 different camera angles and, frankly, anyone with an opinion? Insults, hand gestures, swear words, distasteful comments about your mother…? Yes, refs have heard them all. And that is just from the players.
Michael Oliver, one of the sport’s top officials, had to call in the police in early 2025 after receiving “abhorrent” abuse. If the very best is subjected to this vitriol, what hopes are there further down the line, with serious allegations regarding assault and attempted assault of referees in grassroots football up 32% from the 2022/23 season?
And, gasp, if male referees are supposed to withstand all of this in the macho world of football, imagine what it must be like for women. We all know the most infamous stories - Aguero draping his arm over the assistant referee’s shoulder. Mircea Lucescu arguing women should not officiate at football games because they are “sentimental”. An FA Vice-President telling a female ref her place was in the kitchen. Andy Gray and Richard Keys getting fired from Sky Sports for wondering whether Sian Massey knew the offside rule.
Wrapped up as “prehistoric banter” and “lads mag humour”, it seems to be even more fun to take potshots at female football officials. It is already a tough job for any referee, but women have also to withstand the discrimination, the sexism and the comments on orientation and physical appearance, at the same time as they dispel the suggestions of tokenism. Going to work as a referee is hard enough without the attacks on gender, overall qualifications and harassment that male referees, battered as they are, do not have to tolerate. It makes the achievements of trailblazers, such as Wendy Toms, Stephanie Frappart, Rebecca Welch and Bibiana Steinhaus, all the more impressive.
Referee baiting is as old as the game itself but, have a look around at other sports, and the problem seems particularly acute in football. As with everything that is cultural, however, it has a solution. Intolerance. Football has (rightly but not always successfully) recognised the need to stamp out racism from the game with far-reaching campaigns. These have to be extended to include other forms of discrimination and abuse. Referees should not be vilified for doing their jobs. Or even for being women!
Ian Felice is a Partner at Hassans International Law Firm Limited, Gibraltar, and leads the firm’s Sports practice group. He is a former FIBA Europe international basketball referee and remains active as a referee in the Gibraltar Basketball League. He may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
