Washington woman to be the first female referee of a Premier League match
Rebecca Welch will officiate the Burnley vs Fulham game this afternoon
A Washington woman will make footballing history later by becoming the first female to referee a Premier League match.
Rebecca Welch will officiate the Burnley vs Fulham game this afternoon.
The Wearsider was also the first woman to ever referee a men's FA cup fixture back in 2022.
Stephanie Hilbourne, Chief Executive of Women In Sport, said: "There's an opportunity now for those men on the pitch to show her such respect helping refereeing in general at the moment, and also the position of women in football but in sport more widely. We should be wanting women to be dreaming of reaching the top of refereeing as well as playing in the teams.
"We shouldn't be comparing the two games and we know that Rebecca's already done incredible jobs in women's football and men's football. I think it's just focussing on the skill of the woman as an official, a referee and that should be applicable in both games.
"We shouldn't be saying 'it's a more important thing to be refereeing than men' but equally, it's symbolic of men's football opening up. It's about women in leadership roles and it's about women in officiating roles, which until we get that more equal the whole culture of the game won't shift."