Having started refereeing at the age thirteen, Claire Philpott discusses her own experience in the world of football, alongside the further developments made within the game in recent years.
Q: Why did you start refereeing?
A: I really enjoyed football, and then there was somebody who was a referee who said, ‘Why don’t you do this?’. I was only thirteen. Somebody else who played on the same team as my brother, his dad was doing a referee course, and said let’s do it together.
Q: Why did you stop refereeing?
A: Purely, the case of I think my exams were coming up, I started working. It was just a case I got to a point where other things took over really.
Q: Have you faced any difficulties/barriers when refereeing, because of your gender?
A: The biggest barriers I had were with the mothers. Ironically, the dads were fine, but the mums were quite vocal on the side-lines. Which I wouldn’t have expected that. I felt a little bit intimidated.
The other barrier would be that there was just nowhere to go with it. I used to go to referee meetings and referee groups, and I was the only girl there. I felt a bit isolated.
Q: What do you think the FA can do to encourage more girls into refereeing?
A: I think they need to look at themselves and to see more females within the FA structure. You do see females in a lot of the football club admin roles, you still don’t see a lot of females in those higher positions. I’d like to see the FA push more for females in key roles within the FA itself.
Q: Do you think societal attitudes play a role in the disparity of girls and boys playing football? If so, why do you think this is?
A: I don’t think it does. I think if the opportunities are there, it’s not really an issue. It’s easy to say, it’s because I’m a girl, but it shouldn’t be. We are equally as good. We can do the job just as well. Saying that is putting ourselves down really.
Q: Video assistance referees (VAR) is not used in any major domestic women's competitions around the world, besides the 2019 Women's World Cup. Why do you think this is?
A: I think it’s down to finance, a lot of clubs don’t have the facilities to offer that. I think it’s more a case of elitism with bigger clubs. I think gender is probably irrelevant to that.
A: What is one thing you would say to a girl aspiring to be a referee?
Go fulfil your dreams. Believe in yourself, you are as good as the next person. Why couldn’t you be the first female referee in the World Cup final?
Comments