I know its not quite in the same league, but when i coached my sons under 16s team one of the best refs we encountered was a woman. She wouldn't take any crap from the players, which fortunately i had been told about by a mate who was also a referee. He said if you give her respect you will get along fine. In one game we played with her in charge, the opposition obviously didn't think she was up to the job right from the off. By the end of the first half they had one player sent off. By the end of the game they had managed to have a second player on the pitch sent off, one of the subs sent off (If that was possible) and also the coach had been told to remove himself from the dugout. All because they wouldn't listen and do what she said. After the game she said everyone gets three chances. The first time she get backchat/abuse she would warn them and take a note of it. When they repeated the offence they got the yellow card, third offence its red. She was always up with play and spoke constantly to the players about her decisions and why. Very good experience in my opinion. If they had more women refs, maybe some of the prima donna players egos might actually take a back seat, as they may not constantly feel the need to challenge the person in charge like the average 10 year old does.
if you're going to abuse the ref because she's a woman then prepare to get sent off and the pussy prem players are hardly going to intimidate this lady
I wonder if they'll have a special handbag for toiletries, mobile phone, that free kick foam spray etc. Come to think of it, maybe even a choice of pastel shades for the refs outfit.
According to this article she's dating Howard Webb!! https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/news-...eam-_-DreamTeam-_-FBLink-_-Statement-_-FBPAGE