English Football League: Rebecca Welch Joins Stephanie Frappart To Make History In Football Refereeing

Rebecca Welch made history on Monday April 5, as she became the first appointed female referee to assume responsibility for an English Football League game.

The 37-year-old, who has recently refereed prominent women’s matches, including supervising Port Vale’s 2-0 win against Harrogate Town in the third level of men’s English football.

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As at 2010, Amy Fearn was the first woman to ref an EFL game in the wake of replacing the injured referee in the end phases of a match, but Welch is first to be formally delegated to a match.

As indicated by Welch, she was incredibly thrilled and glad when she was given the appointment, especially as the first woman at any point to be designated to this position.

Welch is a tip top referee who has oftentimes officiatef lower league men’s matches previously. She additionally refereed the women’s FA Cup last at Wembley in 2017.

Rebecca Welch is just amazed and expects that her story will fill in as motivation and inspiration for other female officials getting through the positions.

Meanwhile, Sian Massey-Ellis is right now the lone female official working in the Premier League.

In December 2020, French ref Stephanie Frappart also made history when she became the first female to officiate a men’s UEFA Champions League match.

She at that point, became the first female referee to officiate a major men’s European Final when she took charge of the UEFA Super Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea in 2019.

A month before that, Frappart assumed responsibility for the Women’s World Cup final between the US and the Netherlands in France.