Rebecca Welch makes history as English Premier League’s first female referee

Rebecca Welch has become the first female referee to take charge of an English Premier League match, after she officiated Burnley’s 2-0 win against Fulham on Saturday.

This is just the latest landmark for Welch, an experienced referee who made history in November as the first woman to be appointed a fourth official in the Premier League, when she helped officiate Manchester United’s victory against Fulham.

The 40-year-old has been refereeing since 2010, originally balancing it with her job in the National Health Service, before taking it up on a full-time basis, and notching up a number of firsts during her career.

“(Rebecca) has been exposed to some big games and I am really confident she will deliver a game in the Premier League and be a really good role model for women and girls who maybe think refereeing is for them when previously they didn’t,” Howard Webb, PGMOL’s chief refereeing body, told the BBC when her appointment was announced.

In 2021, Welch became the first appointed female referee to take charge of an English Football League (EFL) game, when she oversaw Port Vale’s 2-0 win against Harrogate Town in the country’s third tier of men’s soccer.

With her latest achievement, Welch consolidates her place in the ranks of female referees making history in recent years by officiating on soccer’s biggest stages.

Last December, France’s Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup match. In 2019, she made history as the first female referee to take charge of a Ligue 1 match and in August the same year she was the first to take charge of a major men’s European match. In 2020, she was the first woman to officiate a men’s UEFA Champions League match.

Welch’s appointment has already drawn praise, with Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino telling reporters that he was “really happy.”

“Already in France, Stéphanie is a female referee and she is really good,” he said. “And why not, if the capacity is there? I am so happy to see that in football, which people sometimes say is so closed, but I think we open our minds.”

On December 26, Sam Allison will become the first Black referee for 15 years to oversee a Premier League match.

“Sam deserves his chance as well. Maybe that will serve as a role model for other young people who maybe previously thought refereeing might not be for them,” Webb said.

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