Rebecca Welch is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

who, in 2021, became the first woman to be appointed to referee an

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

match, when she was appointed to referee a

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

match between

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

and

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, that took place at Harrogate's EnviroVent Stadium on 5 April.

Career

Having worked as an administrator with the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

, Welch became a football referee in 2010, but continued to work in her NHS post until 2019. She had played football from a young age, and studied to be a referee with

Durham County Football Association The Durham County Football Association (also simply known as the Durham FA) is the governing body of football in the historic county of Durham. The Durham FA was founded on 25 March 1883 and is the governing body for football in Durham from gras ...

. Her first two matches were women's university games, followed by a Sunday League match in Sunderland, something she has described as being "a completely different kettle of fish" compared to the university games. During her career as a referee she has officiated at games in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

, and was referee at the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Women's FA Cup Finals. She also officiated at the

2020 FA Women's Community Shield The 2020 Women's FA Community Shield was the ninth Women's FA Community Shield, and the first after the competition's revival following an eleven-season abeyance. As with its male equivalent, the Community Shield is an annual football match play ...

. Since the

2018–19 National League The 2018–19 National League season, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, was the fourth season under English football's new title of National League, fifteenth season consisting of three divisions and the fortieth season ...

season she has refereed at several men's

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

matches. In December 2020 she was added to

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

's elite women's list, joining other female football officials to referee at international games, including

Stéphanie Frappart Stéphanie Frappart (born 14 December 1983) is a French football referee. She has been on the FIFA International Referees List since 2009, and has refereed several high-profile matches. She became the first woman to referee a major men's Europea ...

of France and Germany's

Bibiana Steinhaus Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb (born 24 March 1979) is a German Association football, football referee. She referees for MTV Engelbostel-Schulenburg of the Lower Saxony Football Association, but since October 2020 only as video assistant referee. She wa ...

. Welch's appointment to referee the Harrogate v Port Vale match was announced by the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

on 30 March 2021. The game proceeded smoothly with Welch officiating effectively. Port Vale won the match (2–0). Two players received yellow cards, but there was little dissent apart from a vocal complaint by Harrogate's Connor Hall about a possible penalty in the first half. The announcement made Welch the first woman to be appointed to referee an English Football League game, though not the first woman to referee during a game.

Amy Fearn Amy Elizabeth Fearn (''née'' Rayner; born 20 November 1977) is an England, English Association football, football Referee (association football), referee from Loughborough, Leicestershire, who in 2010 became the first woman to referee in The Foo ...

was substituted to referee the final 20 minutes of a match between

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in February 2010 when the original referee was taken off due to injury. On 29 December 2021, it was announced that Welch would be the first woman to officiate a third round men's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

match. The game in question, between

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

, was played on 8 January 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, Rebecca 1980s births Living people English football referees National League (English football) referees Women association football referees People from Washington, Tyne and Wear Sportspeople from Tyne and Wear National Health Service people UEFA Women's Euro 2022 referees