So a "thing" happened on Saturday as part of the Tampa Bay Rowdies home opener vs. Charlotte Independence. This was the first all-women referee crew in the USL Championship,
An icon among referees: Betty Ellis made history on Mother's Day 40 years ago by Mike Woitalla It seems that Betty Ellis tends to work on Mother’s Day. This year, it’s a fire-safety landscaping project at her home in Sonoma County -- although her daughter, Kyle, thinks she can convince her mom to take a brunch break. On Mother’s Day 40 years ago, Ellis' work made sports history. What Ellis did on Mother’s Day 1981 is why she’s on an ESPN “famous female firsts in sports history” timeline that starts in 1938 with Babe Didrikson Zaharias and includes Billie Jean King and Pat Summitt. It’s why some of her belongings are in the Smithsonian. Kyle and her four siblings were there when it happened, at the NASL San Jose Earthquakes’ Spartan Stadium, where Ellis became the first woman to join a referee crew for a men’s professional sports league in the USA – and most likely became the first woman to officiate pro men’s soccer anywhere in the world. Advertisement “A lot of mixed things were going on in the stands,” says Kyle, who was 19 at the time, watching her 41-year-old mom. “Some people were happy about it, and some yelled things like, ‘get your purse and go home.’ It was a long time ago, but what I remember most is how proud we all were of her.” When a fan screamed “Go back to the kitchen!” – one of Ellis’ children yelled back, “She’s great in the kitchen, too!” The NASL announced the hiring of Ellis in April 1981. She debuted as a fourth official, then continued on as an assistant referee back when that was called a linesman. A week after the Mother’s Day debut she ran the line at Portland’s Civic Stadium with Toros Kibritjian in the center. Back in Spartan Stadium – 100 miles south of Ellis’ Santa Rosa home – she had to deal with a superstar named George Best. “Handsome dude, my goodness,” Ellis says. “He was offside on his first goal and I called it. And San Jose was not happy with me. If you ever went Spartan Stadium, you know how close the fans were to the sideline. The second time, he was slightly offside, but I was right on it. We called it back. I thought the crowd was going to climb over the barriers. “He was very flamboyant and oh my he was ragging me. In any other instance, a linesman would have raised the flag, called the ref over and asked him to talk to the player about his ungentlemanly conduct. But I didn't want to bring any more attention on me.” Both coaches told Ellis after the game that her offside calls were correct. Then a reporter asked her about Best’s behavior and how she kept her cool when he was giving her so much trouble. “I said, 'He’s such a classy looking guy and such a classy player, too bad he doesn’t have class.' And they quoted me in the newspaper! The next game, he was so good to me. He didn't say boo.” Ellis, who kept refereeing men’s professional soccer in the indoor MISL after the NASL folded following its 1984 season, started her officiating journey when her oldest child switched from ice hockey to soccer and the volunteer signup sheet was passed around. “The mothers would volunteer to wash uniforms, or bring oranges, or whatever,” she says. “I just did not have the time for that. Is there anything else I could do? 'You could referee,' they said. I had umpired softball games, so I thought that sounded like fun.” She started at U-6, where much of refereeing was reminding the kids which way the other team’s goal was. As each of her children started joining soccer teams, Ellis’ many hours over the weekends on soccer fields spread over several age groups, as did her reffing. “It morphed into reffing the older boys, that morphed into reffing the Latin League, that morphed into doing college, and then I met John Davies," said Ellis. Davies, a former top NASL referee, was also mentoring teenage Brian Hall at the time. Ellis recalls: “John said, 'You have a really great style about you. You handle things well, would you like to learn how to become a higher level referee, maybe a national referee? You will be breaking a barrier, there's never been a woman. But they have to know you earned your way. If you commit to that, I will support you.'" She trained for a year and half to prepare for the same fitness tests required of the males, which included a 400-meter sprint minimum time that wasn’t far off from what women Olympians clocked in at. When she arrived at the national license course in New Orleans for 200 candidates, it was 199 men, and Ellis. The biggest challenge -- the course's final test -- was indeed the 400-meters, to be run immediately after a series of calisthenics and sprints. Ellis came up short, but by less than two seconds. Close enough to earn another shot at it the next morning. Many of the men, despite having spent the night partying, showed to up to support her at 6 a.m. “It was dark and foggy humid,” says Ellis, “A bunch of guys came out. They wore T-shirts -- I have no idea where they found them -- but on the front of the shirts it said: ‘Men of quality are never threatened by women of equality.’ I was so touched by that. It really gave me a lift.” Some of the men, who’d passed the course the day before, joined Ellis for the situps and sprints, and when she started the 400 meters, a couple of them paced her in front and a couple others from behind. She finished four seconds better than the required time. Betty Ellis sported her ref uniform one more time before honoring the Smithsonian Museum's request. Ellis, now 81 years old, works for FIRST IN, an emergency response training company. She had spent most of her life as a teacher after starting out as a nurse. Of all her vocations and avocations, the reffing felt unique. “I skied, I scuba-dived, but refereeing is the most exhilarating,” she says. “It keeps you absolutely present in the here and now for a longer period than anything else. That makes you feel so exhilarated after the game.” Ellis also served as a high school athletic director and coach of both boys and girls teams in Washington state, where one of the players who attended soccer camps she helped run was a teenage Michelle Akers. After day 1 of watching Akers, Ellis sent her to compete with the boys. “I still watch soccer, and I especially enjoy the success of women’s national team, which hadn't even started when I began reffing pros,” Ellis said. “I would have loved to have reffed some of the women’s games. I would have loved to meet the players and encourage them. I’d love to meet the new referees coming in.” As far as making sports history … "I knew I was breaking a barrier, but I didn't know what to expect at the time, but I hoped. I hoped. I'm very happy that I opened the eyes of women who decided to try it too.” COMMENT
another story here on Betty Ellis: https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2021/04/feature-she-ran-the-line SHE RAN THE LINE FORTY YEARS AGO, BETTY ELLIS WAS THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO OFFICIATE A MEN’S PROFESSIONAL MATCH MAY 16 2021
Kari_Seitz @KSeitz5 13h One of my goals and dreams has now finally come true! For the first time ever we now have women referees receiving appointments for men’s football from every confederation in the world. Thank you AFC CAF CONCACAF CONMEBOL OFC & UEFA for putting quality first.
so SO very happy that I actually helped to make this happen Forty years ago, Betty Ellis made history as the first female to officiate a professional soccer game in the United States. She was in attendance tonight in Kansas City and got to meet our officiating crew 🇺🇸⚽️ @ussoccer_ref pic.twitter.com/ImP5mI4LeZ— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) October 22, 2021
really long story, but I came across her name about a year ago. Just loved her story and working in the old NASL. Had no idea if she was even still alive or not. Searched all over for her and finally a few months ago I got in contact with her. I asked if she would mind if I got her in contact with both a local soccer writer here in New York as well as Soccer America. The local sportswriter here in New York was originally based in Rochester, NY and he actually wrote his first article about her back in 1981. Soccer America loved the story and they put her in contact with the Earthquakes who were going to honor her. Then this photo shows up with her in Kansas City...so it was all pretty good, eh?
Fantastic! Thanks for doing that Football has too many of these stories that fall out of public memory, and usually great ones. Every town probably has one! So, yeah, it is important to get them to be told again.
Referee Abroad For the first time ever, a game in Jordan's Premier League will be refereed by an all-female team of officials. It was announced today by the Jordanian FA. The football match will see Sahab SC and Al-Bara'a Club teams compete in the last round of the Jordan Pro League championship. The referee team will be led by international referee Israa Mobaideen, assisted by Islam Al-Abadi, Sabreen Al-Abadi and Haneen Murad.
Franca Overtoom will be the first woman assistant referee ever in the Eredivisie on next Sunday, 21 November 2021. At 12.15 she will assist Sander van der Eijk in the game Go Ahead Eagles - FC Groningen. Congratulations!
Referee assault from Ghana: Soccer intellectuals Goalkeeper assaults a referee in the ongoing Ghana womens super cup. 🥺#GTVSports pic.twitter.com/4Hmm8gZhee— GTV SPORTS+ (@mygtvsports) November 30, 2021
Law 5 - The Ref @Law5_TheRef 24m Rebecca Welch will become the first female referee to take charge of an FA Cup third round tie when Birmingham City face Plymouth Argyle on 8 January. Congratulations!
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ukraine-russia-war-maryna-striletska-26361090 Ukrainian referee who oversaw England match details horrific experiences as bombs drop
Referee Abroad Great news from Italy Kateryna Monzul is a FIFA referee from Ukraine Italy has opened its doors and invited her to continue refereeing in the Italian leagues. She will referee Inter Milan v Sampdoria in the Women Serie A on March 20th. "The doors to the Italian refereeing community are always open for those match officials who are going through difficult times in their lives. We are delighted to welcome Kateryna to Italy", said Alfredo Trentalange, chairman of the Italian referees association. "I'm beyond words and so grateful for this moving gesture by the Italian FA. Kateryna is an incredible referee and deserves this. Thank you Italy for the solidariety you're showing to the Ukrainian referee community", said Andriy Pavelko, President of the Ukrainian FA. Welcome to Italy, Kateryna
Great news...also I'm cross-posting this into a thread where more people will see it, and where the original news of Monzul in Ukraine was mentioned.
The moment you find out you've been selected to referee the #FIFAWWC final.Congratulations, @ToriPenso 👏 pic.twitter.com/LMd5xpxfw8— FIFA (@FIFAcom) August 18, 2023
Rebecca Welch will become the first female referee in Premier League history She will take charge of Fulham vs. Burnley on December 23rd.
USSF has created an initiative for female referees. It is totaly free and they meet once a month virtually. The first meeting was last Wednesday and they had the USWNT nutritionist as a guest speaker. If you or someone you know is a female referee and wants to be a part of this please use the link below to register. https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx...