Some also expressed their pride at being in a minority of positive role models for other girls and women with aspirations of a career in football: I'm proud to be doing something different, not many females officiate so I like to be representing my gender (Clare, referee). Is this in fact the case? She highlights how liberal feminist struggles for gender equality, built around arguments for the sex-gender distinction, have been instrumental in securing women's and girls' access to opportunities to play football. doi: 10.2307/3096881, Themen, K.. (2016). This paper reports on the themes from this latent approach: gendered entry into football careers; reinforcement of women's difference on the football field; and coping strategies for remaining in the game. Like I don't think education, educating young men not to speak like this would work. Of course, even without these statistics, for those of us who regularly watch football in our local parks it is clear when you look beyond those playing, that women are less visible within the myriad of roles that enable the game to flourish. 28, 7280. From 2019 onwards, Frappart moved into Ligue 1, as the first female to referee games in the top flight of men's French football. The United States women's national soccer team is looking to win the World Cup for a third consecutive time, a feat that no other national team -- men or women -- has ever achieved. Read about our approach to external linking. Like all officials, Frappart has had to adapt to the arrival of the video assistant referee (VAR). Participants were critical of the dismissive nature of some of the men they encountered in decision making positions and those responsible for implementing development programmes for women referees or coaches (Welford, 2011). She was appointed by UEFA to the 2019 European Super Cup final . Probably not. It's the first time a woman will be in charge on football's largest stage. Soccer Soc. Mukansanga was the fourth official for France's 4-1 win over Australia with Yamashita named as fourth official for Belgium's 2-0 defeat against Morocco. became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup game. doi: 10.1177/1012690214566645, Jeanes, R.. (2011). This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at Fifa mens junior and senior tournaments, Collina said. So this is an absolutely a fantastic moment.". More specifically, they considered how their history, roles, and experiences of the game interlink with their theoretical understandings and knowledge of past literature influencing their researcher judgement at each phase. the case for women in men' s football (Caudwell, 2011; Clarkson. Available online at: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/30/rebecca-welch-first-female-referee-appointed-to-efl-match (accessed 1 December 2021). "Two or three times I've come home and thought, why do I bother? it will not be the first time the 38-year-old French referee has written her name into football history . Whilst many sportswomen are willingly compliant with this expectation (Norman, 2012; Dunn, 2016), this brings about an added level of responsibility and pressure to succeed, as we discuss later. contained "maybe four of the poorest decisions I've ever seen". More simply put, they were keen to address the question, What is the overall storey the different themes reveal about the topic? (Braun and Clarke 2006, p. 94). For some there was a perception that it was something they had to accept if they wanted to progress within the game. Mindful of both Caudwell (2011) and Norman (2014) expositions, this paper seeks to address the following question: how do women in positions of power in football negotiate their place in what remains a distinctly male-dominated profession? , who was refereeing a youth game when a seven-year-old player was reduced to tears while his granddad told her "she had no right to be on the pitch". "I give up 80% of my life to referee, so if I've got something wrong it will hurt me more than any player. Whilst football constitutes only one small and specific part of this landscape, we argue that it is perhaps one of the contexts in which inequitable gendered power dynamics are most profound. Sociol. Kempe-Bergman, M., Larsson, H., and Redelius, K. (2020). I don't think people understand that.". Discussion of these processes of identity management highlighted the complexities and contradictions of the women's location within the football sphere. The rationale for this difference related to both a sense that the men's game was faster and more skilful, but also to the idea that the women's game was more respectful.. 19:5325551. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2012.689975, Norman, L., Rankin-Wright, A. J., and Allison, W. (2018). Sport 53, 424450. All rights reserved. doi: 10.1080/14660970.2011.568103. (2015), and Reid and Dallaire (2019) all draw attention to the conspicuous absence of women in football officiating roles, suggesting that gender disparities in officiating are perhaps even more profound than those found in coaching. 29, 445461. 50, 472476. J. Magee, J. Caudwell, K. Liston, and S. Scraton (Oxford: Meyer and Meyer Sport), 105130. For example, Clare discussed her experience as the only woman on both of the coach education courses she had completed. Similar themes are explored amongst adult women footballers by Welford and Kay (2007) and Themen (2016), who uncover the tensions that arise between normative notions of femininity and the physicality required for football prowess. These were then transcribed verbatim, and participants were assigned pseudonyms to maintain their anonymity. The faculty/staff advisor serves as an advocate for students competing in varsity athletics and provides a valuable link between the student-athlete and the CWRU faculty. Finally in focus since 2019: Female referees in men's football. Ahmad, A.. (2011). A similar picture emerges in relation to refereeing. But things are improving. J. Football, Racism and Me: How the . Share this via Email Welch says she is fortunate that she has never heard any derogatory comments about her gender in the nine years she has been refereeing. She says that Frappart's display and that of other female officials in Qatar - another two female referees and three assistant referees are also available for selection - is crucial for paving the way for a new generation. Sociol. - Quora. (modern). Significantly, this historic moment took place in Qatar where authorities treat women as legal minors in their own country. You're going to go against a man in any job interview, your experience is never going to be as good as a man's I don't feel like many women would be able to get into elite football (Zoe, coach). Norman (2010, 2014); LaVoi and Dutove (2012), and Norman et al. Project 2 (Laura) focused on nine women coaches' experiences of participating in women only and mixed sex coaching courses. They suggest that senior coaches are often headhunted via social and professional networks, which tend to be dominated by men. "When you turn up to games, club staff might ask, 'Are you the physio?'" "The professional behaviour we can see now in the whole environment, it is absolutely overwhelming.". 24, 152161. London: The FA. Drury, S.. (2013). Stride, A., Drury, S., and Fitzgerald, H. (2019). According to Fifas head of refereeing, Pierluigi Collina, the selection of officials was made without consideration to gender. People have the perception that women's [elite] football is the equivalent of a grassroots men's semi-pro team who train twice a week and you've got a game at the weekend. She said that Frappart's selection as a referee, rather than on the sidelines, is key. Joanna Stimpson, the women's referee manager at the FA, is aiming to increase the numbers of officials from 1,500 to 3,000 by 2021. The headlines at the beginning of this paper paint a rather bleak picture of women's experiences of football. 39, 121129. Featuring key sets and big moments from the festival. Ella, for example, suggested she felt she had to work twice as hard as her male counterparts to establish herself as a credible and knowledgeable coach. Rebecca Welch became the first female referee to be appointed to an English Football League match earlier this year, while Sian Massey-Ellis has worked as an assistant referee in the Premier. doi: 10.1177/1012690217706192, Braun, V., and Clarke, V. (2006). CNN When a referee generates column inches, it is normally some indictment of their performance; the result of an uproar after a controversial decision. Indeed, the growth of football opportunities in school and community settings demonstrates not only an appetite to extend provision but also a desire on the part of thousands of women and girls to take up football. Male football is more challenging to referee as the game is a faster game and you are more likely to witness more controversial decisions and forceful tackles which require instant, confident judgements (Clare, referee). The interviews highlighted further challenges that were brought about by the women's minority status within a largely male dominated arena (Clarkson et al., 2019). First U16s match I reffed, I maybe did feel out my depth'cause I was just so nervous. the 31-year-old tells BBC Sport. Sociol. She has been on the FIFA International Referees List since 2009 and since 2011 she is the referee of matches in the Championnat National, the third division of men's football in France. Teenager O'Grady has only been a level seven referee in Sheffield for a year after "falling out" with playing football, but has already had what she calls a "horrible experience". Health Sport Phys. Get back in the kitchen' and derogatory comments talking about your body parts and that kind of thing (Jane, referee). Sport J. Negotiating gender in the english football workplace: composite vignettes of women head coaches' experiences. 'Really Excited': Rebecca Welch the First Female Referee Appointed to EFL Match. Over the last two decades, the marginalisation of women in football has been extensively documented in academic scholarship (e.g., Scraton et al., 1999; Caudwell, 2003; Williams, 2003, 2007, 2019; Bell, 2019; Clarkson et al., 2019; Cleland et al., 2020). Soccer Soc. Soccer Soc. And the body is offering more support by appointing mentors and offering training camps at its St George's Park HQ, which provides fitness testing, psychological help and tips on the difference between managing male and female players. Stephanie Frappart will be the first woman to officiate in a men's World Cup when Costa Rica plays Germany on Thursday; an all-female referee team will take charge of a men's World Cup game for the first time. What d'you know, you're a girl! gendered experiences of sport coach education. Soc. NH-A (Project 3), LP (Project 2), and JW-S (Project 1) were responsible for data collection. 4. 12, 333347. doi: 10.1177/10126902030383004, Norman, L.. (2010). I looked at the leaflet and every single image was a white male and I said so how do you think a woman would look at that? I used to get things like, I'd turn up, particularly if I had two male neutral assistants, they would, the secretary or the club connexion, would look at the two assistants and ask which one of you is the referee? (Anne, referee). 37, 366375. Salima Mukansanga, who hails from Rwanda, becomes the first African woman referee at the men's World Cup; The highly experienced match official was selected alongside two other women for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar; Mukansanga, Stephanie Frappart of France and Yamashita Yoshimi of Japan were all unveiled by FIFA's chief referee Pierluigi Collina The Frenchwoman's name was all over the world's media . Int. More worryingly perhaps, the widespread perception that men were the norm in coaching and refereeing meant that women were offered few opportunities and were regularly overlooked in terms of the contributions they could make: I was put with the younger age groups and I felt like that was because they felt that I didn't have the ability to coach the [boys'] under 14s. The accounts above demonstrate that the default assumption is that women are unskilled in football and lack the knowledge or ability to perform well in coaching or refereeing, and that when women demonstrate evidence to counter this belief, they are perceived as merely an exception to this standard expectation. The highs, the lows, the reds and yellows: farewell Mike, Martin and Mossy | Hannah Jane Parkinson, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. J. Magee, J. Caudwell, J. Liston, and S. Scraton (Oxford: Meyer and Meyer Sport), 151172. 2. ^This initiative takes place in primary schools and aims to inspire girls through Disney stories and imaginative play to become more active and develop fundamental football skills, and speaking and listening skills. Girls with learning disabilities and football on the brain'. Frappart is one of the leading referees in womens football and a trailblazer within the mens game. Last updated on 24 December 202024 December 2020.From the section Football. Frenchwoman Frappart will make history as she leads the first all-female refereeing team at a men's World Cup in the Group E match which Germany must win to keep alive their hopes of . A manager didn't think a decision she made was correct, so he told her to go home and cook a roast dinner' (Dee, referee). During interviews, a number of the participants were quick to dismiss the presence of gender-based discrimination in football coaching and refereeing. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Especially in a women's game, we all have a laugh about it cause they understand too (Hattie, referee). But like Steinhaus-Webb, she is keen to make sure any promotion is for the right reasons. doi: 10.1080/14660970.2017.1331163, Fielding-Lloyd, B., and Men, L. (2011). Schlesinger and Weigelt-Schlesinger (2012) argue that male coach educators have gender-specific expectations of women's coaching capabilities, which they perceive to be less compatible with football compared to their male counterparts. Scarlett and Annette were keen to move beyond this liberal feminist and relatively surface level analysis to begin to consider the significance of the structural, cultural, and material discursive conditions of these women's lives. Sociol. Like the participants from Fielding-Lloyd and Men (2008, 2011, 2016) research, many spoke of having to earn their place amongst male coaches. Int. Similarly, Scarlett's feminist-queer approach brings together the insights of radical feminist challenges to structural power relations of sport, whilst attending to the queer project of exploring the complex ways in which discourses of gender and sexuality are negotiated by individuals involved in sport at interactional levels (Drury, 2013). I have to (Anne, referee). Highly educated women who described themselves as being privileged in many ways, found these rules demeaning and a threat hanging over them. Qual. A Manchester United official has called for stronger financial regulation in the women's game to stop the gap between clubs widening. Monzul, 40, has refereed at four Womens World Cups, including the final in 2015 when the United States beat Japan 5-2. Res. The sceptic, the cynic, the women's rights advocate and the constructionist: male leaders and coaches on gender equity in sport. first woman to referee a men's Champions League game. Frappart, who started playing football aged 10, oversaw her first Europa League game in October when. Where actually, we've got basically the same training load as a men's premier league team. Fifa has picked 24 men to work on video review technology, with semi-automated VAR for offside decisions still being considered. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. City players thank the referees during the round one A-League women match between Canberra United and Melbourne City at Viking Park, on December 03. Gay sport spaces: transgressing hetero(/homo)normativity and transforming sport? Analysis and opinion from our chief football writer. When Stephanie Frappart stepped onto the field of Al Bayt Stadium on Thursday, she became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup game to complete a journey that started almost 30 years ago . Why am I putting myself through this?' 27, 89104. Sociol. Ten Southeast Asian nations entered the men's tournament. Whilst it is understandable and indeed laudable that women like Claire should feel eager to be a visible signifier of positive change, this perspective can also be interpreted as symptomatic of the broader gendered culture of football, as well as an increasingly neoliberal and postfeminist discourse that positions women as responsible for their own representation and liberation (Toffoletti, 2016). 5. Missing actor's remains identified. Sociol. doi: 10.1177/2167479515588720, Fielding-Lloyd, B., and Men, L. J. Despite their experiences, they expressed resilience and determination to challenge the established norms of the game and to strive for positive outcomes for other women in powerful football roles. Women are significantly underrepresented in football coaching roles; the ratio of male to female coaches in English women's football stands at 96:4 (UEFA., 2017; Clarkson et al., 2019; Sawiuk et al., 2021). J. Qatari women have voiced hope that the World Cup could be a force for good for women, as Qatar has nowhere to hide from the scrutiny. Barriers and supports for female coaches: an ecological model. Referees This article is more than 1 year old Female referees to officiate at men's World Cup for the first time Three female referees and three female assistants selected 'Quality counts. Yamashita, 36, has made a similar breakthrough in Asian competitions. Indeed, there was an assumption that to become a better referee you need to be involved in men's football: I've followed the men's [pathway], started on the men's. Soccer Soc. Whilst Fielding-Lloyd and Men's (2008) commentary relates to separatist women-only coaching courses, our findings demonstrate that similar perceptions occur in relation to The FA's Women's Game Pathway for referees. "I've been involved for nine years, and the support has been unbelievable, so for the next generation it will be only better. 54, 282301. doi: 10.1080/18377122.2012.721725, Norman, L.. (2014). Sport. A number of the women were clear that when coaching and refereeing they were first and foremost a coach or referee: I'm not a female refereeI'm a referee (Jane). doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa, PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar, Burdsey, D.. (2011). MORE:Full list of World Cup officials, VARs and assistants. All adopted a critical interpretivist lens and used semi-structured in-depth interviews, recognising the value they bring in centralising the voices of the women participants, illuminating heterogeneity within the group, and unearthing similarities in experiences. Free kicks also require consideration for referee positioning. Many women players have the ability to throw the ball as far as men. "Sometimes fans might say, 'Oh you're better than some of the male refs we've had'. 9 Articles, This article is part of the Research Topic, The Only Female RefereeGendered Entry Into Football Careers, Get Back in The KitchenReinforcing Women's Difference on The Football Field, Just Grin and Bear ItCoping Strategies For Remaining in the Game, https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.789321, Schlesinger and Weigelt-Schlesinger, 2012, Schlesinger and Weigelt-Schlesinger (2012), https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/30/rebecca-welch-first-female-referee-appointed-to-efl-match, https://www.thefa.com/news/2020/jun/03/gameplan-for-growth-refereeing-030620, Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom. (2008). Some of the referees expressed the nervousness they felt prior to a game, which stemmed from their uncertainty about the reactions of male players and coaches. Frances Stphanie Frappart will be the VAR, though the fourth official and assistant VAR roles will be filled by men the Ukrainians Denys Shurman and Viktor Matyash respectively. Project 1 (Jodie) centralised the experiences of five women football coaches working at different levels in both the men's and women's gamefrom those with FA level 1 coaching qualifications involved in facilitating grassroots youth football, to those completing their UEFA B Licence and working toward the elite level. She became the first female referee of a J1 League game in May of last year and this year has taken charge of matches in the Womens Asian Cup and the Asian equivalent of the mens Champions League. "We've got to try and cut away some of the non-conscious bias that is still out there. She was appointed by UEFA to the 2019 European Super Cup final . It is so entwined in the fabric of sport that most do not even discern it. In football, in the context of England at least, it appears this may be particularly evident.