“I see,” I say, perhaps a little too enthusiastically, as Bibi Steinhaus-Webb, the head of women’s referees in England, sits down in the chair opposite me. I forgot to press the recording for our interview and blurt out, “I now understand why anyone would want to be a referee.”
Before spending a day at the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) professional women’s training camp, I struggled to understand why anyone would become a referee, where all your thoughts and decisions are taken apart, analyzed, criticized and judged . rarely praised.
“Why would anyone do that to themselves?” I would wonder when the last story came out about a referee being abused, whether it was grassroots or elite. I know it’s a tough job and I know it requires a tremendous amount of hard work and a thick skin. But I didn’t know the job. I didn’t see the art in it. I didn’t understand the magnitude of the delicate balance between physical and mental agility that was required. The only thing I can think of is: it’s like chess boxing, where opponents alternate between chess and boxing rounds, except you do both at the same time.
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At one point during training camp, I sat in the back of a session on the new International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules on whether a defensive player’s touch was intentional or a deflection, which determined whether the attacking player was in an offside position was played offside Or not, my mind comes up with a leftfield suggestion: “I’m unqualified and would be terrible at this, but my God, I want to try anyway.” I quickly shake myself free of that momentary thought and focus back on the session.
The IFAB rule doesn’t seem to be hugely popular, but here they discuss how best to implement it. We watch a number of clips one by one and after each clip, as it plays in a loop, the tables break to discuss whether they think the contact with the ball was intentional or not. Every time there is no consensus among the tables, because how do you determine the player’s intention?
It doesn’t take long to understand that these officials will have to respond to these incidents and make judgments about the player’s intent – or not – much faster than the comfortable few minutes of replays they’ve been given in this conference room. Can I tell you whether it was intentional or not? No.
“After 90 minutes, heart rate at 180, potentially exhausted, the referee still has to be in the mindset to make the right decisions,” says Steinhaus-Webb. “Have you ever run a marathon? Would you expect a marathon runner to do a complex math exercise when he crosses the finish line? Normally they don’t look in the right condition to get the right result. That’s why you have to train much harder to ensure that you stay mentally sharp.”
It sounds like race officials should adopt a training regimen similar to Taylor Swift’s before the Eras Tour, where she would run on the treadmill for the three-hour set while singing the songs as she ran and the speed based on the pace of the number. “That’s exactly it,” says Steinhaus-Webb. “That’s a big part of what they have to do: the physical preparation, the mental preparation, but then there’s also the technical preparation.”
Throughout the year, the PGMOL will organize matches and tournaments to get as close to a competitive environment as possible, but “That will not be a match at an elite level, Arsenal against Chelsea in the Emirates, that pressurized environment, with that level of players . you will never be able to fully imitate that,” says Steinhaus-Webb. “It’s process, process, process. It’s like learning the processes over and over again during driving lessons. When you drive a car these days, you don’t even think about it. This is the state you want to go to.”
I ask referee Kirsty Dowle, who was cheered and praised by fans off the pitch for her performance in the men’s National League match between Southend United and Oxford City in October, how she puts rule changes into practice.
“You don’t do that,” she says. Teams train every day, kick a ball around and work on things. We don’t get that chance. But on weekends like this we can watch clips and discuss with each other. I can watch my games and watch my clips. And yes, I’m not physically doing it, but I’m constantly processing it so that when I step on the field, I’ve done it almost a thousand times before.”
Speaking about the unexpected ovation in Southend, Dowle said: “First of all I didn’t really realize it was for me, I thought the players had to be somewhere. The second point, if I’m completely honest, is that it was a good day for the club, they had won 2-0 and the sale of the club was underway. I didn’t do anything crazy amazing; I think it all suited the club well.”
Dowle has been able to quit her job to focus on refereeing full-time, but not everyone is so lucky. This season, 20% (15 out of 75) of the officials in women’s football have a contract and can concentrate full-time on refereeing. In the Women’s Super League it is almost half, says Steinhaus-Webb. “When we came in, the numbers looked very different,” she says. “Now we’re half way there and if we continue at this pace we’re on track to be in a really good place.”
Those who cannot work full-time still work to highly professional standards, assisted by a staff team that has doubled in size since Steinhaus-Webb arrived three years ago. For Dowle, retiring has been an “absolute game changer” and has allowed her to enjoy refereeing more. “I was afraid I would put more pressure on myself now that it was going to pay my mortgage, but just to be able to sleep as much as I need, to prepare my food, to watch my matches and have time to to talk. for coaches is great.”
Steinhaus-Webb and her team are also working to protect those who cannot work full-time. For Lauren Whiteman, a PE teacher and assistant referee in the women’s championship who is newer to the women’s select group, the extra help was significant. “I can’t say anything bad about the support,” she says. “I’ve gone through my journey before, I wouldn’t say without support, but not necessarily with a coach and someone who I can deal with and discuss things with. While this season has been completely different.”
This season, Whiteman has used communications for the first time, taking charge of a televised match and being invited to Manchester City’s match against Liverpool in the Continental Cup. “I’m not going to lie, I almost dropped my phone,” Whiteman says of the call to tell her she would be at the match between the two WSL teams. “It was one of the biggest games you can get there. It was a relief that things went well. When you get that opportunity, you really want to make the most of it.”
Another assistant referee, Emily Carney, who has benefited from being part of the development group set up in 2022 to give officials the chance to move up a level and give it a try, describes the opportunity as “really worth the effort”. Carney says she wasn’t the biggest fan of referees when she was a young player and her mother told her she was “terrible to the referees.” It was also her mother who encouraged her to take the course so that she understood all the rules. Her rise was rapid and she began traveling to matches early on with Rebecca Welch and Sian Massey-Ellis as international assistants and learning from them.
This season she has officiated at a number of men’s EFL matches. “When you make the leap, you feel like you’re carrying the hope of a lot of female match officials, that you have to represent them,” she says.
When Welch took charge of the Premier League match between Fulham and Burnley in December, it was a reward for introducing the development group. “Goosebumps,” Steinhaus-Webb says of watching Welch in that game. “I’m sitting there watching the game and all I want is for her to be okay. That’s all I want. No drama, that’s all I want.”
Another point of pride for Steinhaus-Webb is the addition of five new match officials from England to the FIFA International List for 2024. Four of these officials are from the select women’s group: Georgia Ball, Nicoleta Bria, Sophie Dennington and Emily Heaslip, and there 13 women from England are now on the list.
In a final session on nonverbal communication, Steinhaus-Webb puts her hands on her hips in a power pose. A moment later, she has everyone in the room stand up, move their hands into different positions and postures, and discuss the nonverbal implications of each. She is playful with it, confident, and it provides a relaxed, open and fun environment – much more fun than the match day environment can often be for them.
“I just love referees. Taking this course was the best decision of my life,” says Steinhaus-Webb. “I appreciate that it may be difficult for other people to understand, but this is exactly why I want you to come see it through my eyes. To see my passion for it, why I fell in love with it, this is what I want to share.”