Time Out by Simon_Doyle

Recently I questioned in the forum whether it was right that a 24-year-old ref should officiate in the Premier League and came down on the side that if you are good enough then you are old enough. So should a similar maxim apply to women referees wanting to officiate in the top flight.

The question arises after this week a woman (deep intake of breath) took charge of a Football League match, and has now set her sets on the Premiership.



Amy Fearn made history after being called upon to officiate for the final 20-minute of Coventry City's win over Notts Forest on Tuesday night after the original ref limped out of the action.

So what are the pros and cons? At 31 Amy hopefully has the maturity to handle a top flight game. She's been running the lines in the Football League and refereeing in the Football Conference for almost seven years, and you don't do that for that length of time without measuring up to the job. (No jokes about vital stats and all that eh?)

But will a female being able to keep pace with a game played by Premiership footballers who are all generally finely tuned atheletes? Then again a 31-year-old female may possibly still keep up with the pace better than a forty-something ref which most of the Prem officials seem to be. And there's even the chance that the players and manager may be far too polite to give a woman official such a hard time... well maybe.

The only reservation I have is the impact it will have on the poor football fans who will have to replace the familiar "bastard in the black" with "bitch in the black" or "you fat bastard" being replaced by "yes, your arse does look big in those shorts". Perhaps the football fan will be far too chivalrous to even mock a female referee, or maybe it will be "t*ts out for the lads" chants all the way? I'm sure Mr Ferguson will have a view on the amount of added time regardless of the gender of the official.