Football League Ref: But Is There A Place For Women In The Game?

This blog was first published on February 12th at http://happydude88.livejournal.com/

This has always a fairly controversial and heated debate and it probably will rage on for years to come, but should women have a place in the game of football. Why not, what’s the harm?

On Tuesday night, referee Tony Bates had to come off through injury, with 20 minutes remaining of the hotly-contested Midlands derby between Coventry City and Nottingham Forest. He was replaced by Amy Fearn, who was the senior assistant. Therefore, Fearn became the first woman to referee a match in the Football League. To her credit and that of the players too, the game, which ended in a 1-0 win for Coventry ended without any controversy.

Traditionally, football has been known as a real men’s game and that women should stay away from this sport. However, statistics are not backing up that fact. Eight years ago, Football overtook Netball as the most popular sport that women participate in, and the success of Arsenal and England ladies in major tournaments of recent years suggests that there is a place for women in the game. Sure, it will never overtook the men and nor should it, but does it deserve more exposure. Yes is my simple answer to that.

Sponsorship deals are of a very low income and although ITV screen the Ladies FA Cup final, only the BBC has shown any broadcasting interest into the woman’s game. I think more needs to be done on a commercial side for women to get a real breakthrough into football.

As for Amy Fearn, she has refereed regularly in the Blue Square Premier of recent years, but is highly confident of someday, referring a match in the Barclays Premier League. With the success of foreign referees abroad, even taking charge of crucial UEFA Europa League and domestic games, then I certainly think that Fearn’s ambition is certainly an achievable goal. There may only be 1,000 women who are registered referees in England, but if Amy Fearn can inspire this statistic, then things may change in the game. It’s not the first time she has made the news either. Back in 2006, then Luton Town manager Mike Newell got into hot water with the FA for a sexist comment about women in football after his side had a penalty turned down against QPR. That day, Fearn was the linesman who turned down the pleas, but it was Newell who was in the wrong and quite rightly, he had to apologise for his comments.

Maybe the game of football doesn’t really want women in it, but I think the game needs them and although men will dominate in the short-term future, it would be nice to see the female side break into the Premiership and above, even if it end up on the referring side.