Rebecca Welch believes female referees should not feel intimidated about working in the men’s professional game, insisting her experience was nothing but positive.
The 40-year-old was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame in Manchester on Tuesday after becoming the first woman to referee in the Premier League last December when Fulham hosted Burnley.
She insists her gender was never an issue when she refereed men’s matches – in fact, she felt she had an easier time than her male colleagues.
“I think I am treated differently, but in a positive way,” she said.
“I always found – especially in the men’s game – that I got a lot less grief off players than the men [referees] did, which is quite ironic because people probably think it’s the other way around.
“I’ve been involved in the men’s game since I started and the men have been great – it’s not always a story people want to hear but I’ve had a great experience.”
Welch was also the first woman to be appointed to referee an EFL match when she took charge of Harrogate vs Port Vale in 2021.
She added: “I used to be uncomfortable about that word trailblazer, but now I embrace it.
“We want to inspire more people to get involved and if they can use my name to help women and girls get into refereeing then I’m all for it.”
Welch: We must normalise women refereeing in the men’s game
She hopes football reaches a point where female referees in men’s football is unremarkable.
“Hopefully when the next person does it, we won’t be talking about it as much, because we want to normalise it,” she added.
“We want to make it the norm for a female referee or assistant referee to officiate any fixture and there be no noise around it.”
Welch, who cites her first Women’s FA Cup final in 2017 as her career highlight, also refereed at the 2022 Women’s Euro and the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
She retired from officiating in the summer to focus on a managerial role at Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), having just refereed at the Paris Olympic Games.
Her role now is to support the next generation of talent, spearheaded by the likes of Kirsty Dowle and Abigail Byrne.
She added: “Year on year we see an increase in the numbers coming through the grassroots game and the professional game where we have one of the biggest and best women’s leagues in the world, but there’s also the opportunity for them to go into the male pathway.
“I was lucky enough to do both pathways, so the options are really open to people to do what they feel comfortable doing.”
England’s first Asian-heritage player inducted to Hall of Fame
Welch’s recognition comes 10 days after trailblazer Frank Soo was posthumously inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame during Stoke City’s clash with Derby County.
Sky Sports News exclusively revealed back in September that Soo, who was the first Asian heritage footballer ever to represent England, was going to be appointed to the Hall of Fame.
Stoke City legend Soo was also the first person of East or Southeast Asian (ESEA) heritage to appear in the Football League, making more than 250 appearances for the Potters where he was a former team-mate and captain of Sir Stanley Matthews.
National Football Museum chief executive Tim Desmond said: “At the National Football Museum, we are delighted to induct Frank Soo into our Hall of Fame celebrating not only his achievements on the pitch but also his role as a pioneer for being England’s first-ever player of Asian descent.
“The National Football Museum is proud to be representative of football in all its diversity and Frank must have overcome a lot of social barriers to achieve at the highest level in the game. His story is incredibly inspiring and we hope this induction contributes to his legacy.”