Wendy Ann Toms (born 16 October 1962) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

former football referee from Broadstone, Dorset who has officiated in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

and then the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, both as an assistant referee. She was the first female ever to fulfil such roles at those levels. She also served for FIFA on the women's international list. Her other occupation is as a

parcel post Parcel post is a postal service for mail that is too heavy for normal letter post. It is usually slower than letter post. The development of the parcel post is closely connected with the development of the railway network which enabled parcels to ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

.Woking v. Telford
first Conference match as referee, 1996 (also other occupation): article at The Independent website, via the ''FindArticles'' service.

Career

Toms took up refereeing in the late 1980s,
plus other career information: ''ThisIsHampshire.net'' website. and progressed to become a reserve (now " fourth") official in

in 1991 for the AFC Bournemouth versus

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

match in the old Third Division, which was then unique for a female. She was the first woman to be included on the list of Football League assistant referees when she was chosen for the 1994–95 season, and became a referee in the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

two seasons later,Date of first Conference match as referee
, 31 August 1996 (also list of her other "firsts"): M. Gratton's ''Ladies First'' website. creating another precedent when she took charge of the game between

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...

and Nuneaton Borough her first Conference match as referee. Almost a year after that, she operated as an assistant referee in the

, again, the first female ever to do so. Two years after her debut in that league, and having 'run the line' for referee Steve Dunn during

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

's 4–3 Premiership away win at

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

on 11 September 1999, she was roundly criticised by the then Coventry manager,

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...

, who said in an interview with ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' newspaper: "We are getting PC decisions about promoting ladies. It does not matter if they are ladies, men or Alsatian dogs. If they are not good enough to run the line they should not get the job. Saturday's was the worst assistant refereeing decision I have seen this season by far and I've said that in my report. The fourth Leeds goal was offside by at least four yards and there were numerous other bad decisions in the game. My message is don't be politically correct and promote people just for the sake of it." However, the president of the Referees' Association at the time, Peter Willis, replied: "She's a very good official...I think the situation is very sad. As a manager of a football club, Strachan is responsible for his players and he is entitled to his opinion on the performance of the officials, but to talk about the sex of the official is irrelevant."Gordon Strachan's criticism of Toms
also FIFA status confirmation: article at

website, via the ''FindArticles'' service. Toms' highest domestic honour was being appointed as an assistant for the Football League Cup Final between

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and Tranmere at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

on 27 February 2000, when the referee was Alan Wilkie. Leicester won this 2–1, with Toms indicating offside at one point to cause the Tranmere (and former Leicester) player David Kelly's "equalising goal" to be disallowed. She was also an assistant referee in two matches at the 2000 Olympic Games, having been selected by FIFA to operate on their women's international list. She took charge of the UEFA Women's Cup quarter-final first leg on 30 October 2003 between Brøndby IF of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and Gomrukçu Baku of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

, with the Danish side running out 9–0 winners. Toms refereed one match at the 2005

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalen ...

in England. This was the Group B match at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

in Preston on 6 June 2005, between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, which finished 3–1 to the French. Although no longer officiating at the highest level, Toms still referees in the Football Conference. Wendy Toms was also named in derogatory fashion during the Richard Keys and Andy Gray rant regarding women officiating elite football matches in late 2010, which cost the two broadcasters their jobs.Sky Sports' Keys and Gray, naming Wendy Toms on air
Telegraph.co.uk.

Career

References

See also