Welch to become first woman to referee in Premier League،
Rebecca Welch will become the first woman to referee a Premier League match when she takes charge of Fulham against Burnley on December 23.
Sam Allison will also become the first black referee in 15 years to take part in a high-profile match, following in the footsteps of Uriah Rennie. He will take charge of Sheffield United against Luton Town on December 26.
Wendy Toms was the first female assistant to lead the line in the Premier League in the 1990s and was followed more recently by Natalie Aspinall and Sian Massey-Ellis.
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Last month, Welch became the first woman to act as fourth official when she was in the technical area for Fulham's match against Manchester United, and she now gets her own match.
“Rebecca is a very calm and focused person on the pitch,” said referee chief Howard Webb. “She commands a lot of respect in a fairly discreet way. She reads the game well; she is a precise decision-maker, a good athlete on the pitch as well.
“When we meet her, she doesn't have a big stature, but she has presence. She's a very determined official. She resembles in some ways Stéphanie Frappart, the French official who worked on the Ligue des champions this year.
“She has worked hard physically, technically and really deserves this opportunity. I went to see her myself recently in a Championship match and I was very impressed with what I saw in terms of her mastery of the game , good reading of the game, good subtle player management as well, and I have no doubt that she will show all these qualities at Fulham.”
The 39-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise this year, becoming the first woman to take charge of a Championship match in January, between Birmingham City and Preston North End.
Welch was then selected to referee the Women's World Cup, appointed for three matches, including the round of 16 match between Australia and Denmark. His hopes of refereeing further matches in the tournament were effectively ended when England reached the final.
North Riding referee Welch was offered promotion to the EFL as an assistant referee in 2017, but chose to become a referee and progress into the men's game that way. She officiated in the National League, the fifth tier of English football, during the 2018-19 season, while also continuing in women's football.
She took charge of the Women's FA Cup final in 2017 and 2020 and was promoted to the elite category of UEFA women's referees in 2020, when she left her administrative role in the National Referee Service. health.
In 2021, she became the first woman to referee a professional match in England, as Port Vale beat Harrogate Town in League Two.
Allison, meanwhile, is a former youth player for Swindon Town, Bristol City, AFC Bournemouth and Exeter City and had a career in the non-league pyramid.
He initially shared his work as a firefighter with his career as a referee, and in the 2020-21 season he became the third black referee to be appointed to the EFL, after Rennie and Trevor Parkes – the latter also being a firefighter. Allison now becomes only the second black referee in the Premier League.
Allison quit his job as a firefighter – although he continues to volunteer – over the summer when the Premier League's Elite Refereeing Performance Plan was launched, a program developed in part to promote diversity in refereeing in England.
This is a further step by PGMOL, England's refereeing body, to increase diversity in the professional game. In January, Bhupinder Singh Gill became the first Sikh-Punjabi to act as an assistant referee in the Premier League.
PGMOL has also accelerated the recruitment of promising referees who have excelled in the lower leagues up to the Premier League this season. Sam Barrott had only refereed 10 Championship matches before being elevated to the top flight last month at the age of 30. A former Halifax Town youth player, he was only promoted to the EFL in 2020.
“Rebecca and Sam were both part of the development group created last year,” added Webb. “They went through a selection process to be part of it. Credit to them, they have performed well in the Championship this season and deserve their opportunities because of their quality and the talent they have.
“Of course it's significant in that Rebecca is the first woman to whistle in the Premier League; she was the fourth official a few weeks ago for the first time, and we have a lot of talented officials working in this sport We have Kirsty Dowell who will take charge of her first Football League match this weekend at Doncaster Rovers; she is another FIFA registered official.
“I just hope other people see the success of these female officials, young girls and young women, and think that refereeing could be for them.
“With Sam being the first black referee in the Premier League since Uriah Rennie in 2008, again we know he has performed well in the Championship this year to a consistent standard, and we are confident he will put in a strong performance.
“The game's profile will serve as a model for others in underrepresented communities, and that is undoubtedly a positive. We need more diversity because there is undoubtedly quality in all communities and previously for whatever reason we weren't able to bring people through these groups and now thankfully it's finally happening.
