18-10-2024, 17:17
Last night I watched Exeter playing at Shrewsbury, the only EFL game happening in England. One of the Assistant Refs was a woman. She unfortunately made her presence obvious by missing a fairly glaring offside on Exeter's second goal and this set me wondering .........
Why was she on the line when every other Assistant in England would have been available? Why, to be judged any good, and probably to satisfy herself of her own capabilities, must be she measured in the male game?
Whilst all football is desperate for competent officials why, when there aren't anywhere near enough women within the women's game in management, coaching, and officiating roles is the standard for women that they are as good as men. And are men that good anyway?
I suppose I will be accused of being very Joey Barton if I suggest women should be populating and dominating their game and proving their worth in that sphere before being, or even wanting to be, judged against men. I imagine there are Shrewsbury fans muttering about women running the line, when in fact errors of judgement are common to all those thrust into that unenviable position. If human judgement were immaculate, would we spending our time watching VAR and ruling idiot lines on digital pitches?
Of course a woman can officiate in a men's game, but why should she need to prove it? What we've got at the moment is just another form of tokenism. I hope women don't fall for it. All it can do is hand women a second-class status as soon as they make a mistake. And "you're not fit to referee" is already one of the chants most commonly heard ........
I know we put the women's game back over half a century by banning them, but we can't make reparation by urging them to become us. The most we can do is assist them in any way they wish to develop their game. Even a gay man like me has noticed women are different. Celebrate it! Women are wonderful.
Why was she on the line when every other Assistant in England would have been available? Why, to be judged any good, and probably to satisfy herself of her own capabilities, must be she measured in the male game?
Whilst all football is desperate for competent officials why, when there aren't anywhere near enough women within the women's game in management, coaching, and officiating roles is the standard for women that they are as good as men. And are men that good anyway?
I suppose I will be accused of being very Joey Barton if I suggest women should be populating and dominating their game and proving their worth in that sphere before being, or even wanting to be, judged against men. I imagine there are Shrewsbury fans muttering about women running the line, when in fact errors of judgement are common to all those thrust into that unenviable position. If human judgement were immaculate, would we spending our time watching VAR and ruling idiot lines on digital pitches?
Of course a woman can officiate in a men's game, but why should she need to prove it? What we've got at the moment is just another form of tokenism. I hope women don't fall for it. All it can do is hand women a second-class status as soon as they make a mistake. And "you're not fit to referee" is already one of the chants most commonly heard ........
I know we put the women's game back over half a century by banning them, but we can't make reparation by urging them to become us. The most we can do is assist them in any way they wish to develop their game. Even a gay man like me has noticed women are different. Celebrate it! Women are wonderful.