How Rebecca Welch went from refereeing in the Sunday league while still working in the NHS to being named Premier League’s first female referee – and has a simple message for those who say a woman can’t do the job

The first female Premier League referee is a former NHS admin worker who picked up her whistle after a friend grew tired of her criticism during a game and said: ‘If you think it’s that easy, give it a go.’ 

Rebecca Welch, 40, will become the first female referee in top-flight history when she takes charge of the Fulham v Burnley match on December 23. 

Gaining her place in the world’s most watched league is an astonishing achievement for the former amateur footballer, who began her refereeing career juggling Sunday league games in County Durham with her full-time job in the NHS. 

Born in Washington, Tyne and Wear, Welch spent much of her childhood playing football with friends on the streets of her home town but was disappointed not to play competitively at school ‘as there was no girls football team’. 

She said she ‘didn’t even think about refereeing’ until she was challenged to do so by her friend Lindsey Robinson at the age of 27.

‘One of my really good friends, who is a referee, refereed us,’ she told the Independent. ‘I spent the whole game telling her how to do her job! Her response was, ”If you think it’s that easy, give it a go.” That’s how it happened’. 

Rebecca Welch, 40, will become the first female referee in top-flight history when she takes charge of the Fulham v Burnley match on December 23 (she’s seen refereeing a game earlier this year) 

Welch was previously fourth official during Fulham v Man Utd at Craven Cottage on November 4 

The referee is seen relaxing with a dog in a photo shared to social media 

Football has a reputation as a male dominated sport and Welch has sometimes faced hostility, with two 17-year-old boys arrested last month for alleged misogynistic chanting towards her during a Birmingham City game.     

But Welch has said her gender ‘has never really been a problem’ and may have either helped her career rather than hindered it. 

‘In reality, if anything, I was probably treated with a little more respect by the players because I was a female ref,’ she told the Sunderland Echo in 2021. For me, being a female referee has never been problematical.’

In another interview, she vowed to simply ignore trolls who thought being a woman made her unsuitable to do the job.  

READ MORE – MARK CLATTENBURG: This is no token gesture… Rebecca Welch’s appointment is is richly deserved 

‘I think the abuse side of it is a different avenue and that’s something that fortunately I haven’t been privy to, in my 11 years. I’ve never had somebody come in and give me abuse just because I’m a female referee or abuse because I’m a referee,’ she said. 

‘I’ve had people disagree with me because of the nature of the job I do, but there are some people who have come under that [abuse] so we definitely need to do more work in that area to stop that happening as we move forward.’ 

Officiating in front of thousands of Premier League fans is a far cry from Welch’s previous job working as an administrator for the NHS’s business services authority.

She held the role for 17 years before giving it up in 2019, but still credits the health service with helping her on the way to success. 

‘The NHS are a crucial piece of the jigsaw to how I am here, with the flexibility they gave me,’ Welch told the Telegraph. 

‘I worked full-time but if I needed time off to go to games, if I needed to leave early or if I needed to go on any Uefa trips, they were always very accommodating. Never once did I have to say ”I can’t attend a game because I have to go to work” – their support was brilliant.

‘I decided a couple of years ago to take a career break [from the NHS], just because I wanted to give football everything and I wanted to be in a position to, when I retire, sit back and say I gave it 100% and this was what I achieved. Hopefully when I retire from refereeing I will return to the NHS and they’ll have me back.’

Welch became a regular feature in the Women’s Super League before, in 2021, she became first woman to referee an EFL match when she took charge of Harrogate Town vs Port Vale in League Two in 2021.

Speaking before the game, the ref said it was important to show that woman can proceed to the next level

Welch watches on during a Women’s Super League match between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park on October 01

Welch told The Guardian: ‘I’m really excited and this is what I’ve been working towards. In the last 10 years I’ve put a lot of hard work and commitment in and I’ve reaped the rewards from that by getting promoted. To be given this opportunity to work in the EFL is amazing for me.

‘I’d never seen myself as a trailblazer until the last year, where I’ve started to accept it because I think it’s important that people who are fortunate enough to be in my position or similar can show people that this can be done,’ she said. 

‘I do think it’s important to show that women who are in the top 1% of their category can proceed to the next level so it definitely makes others down the pyramid look up and know that they can achieve the same.’

One person who knows Welch described her as ‘super fit’, saying that has been a priority of hers as she progressed through the pyramid from the National League to the Championship.

She soon realised that the higher the level you officiate, the greater the necessity to keep up with the game, unless you want to be left behind. 

Welch hands a yellow card to Mallik Wilks of Sheffield Wednesday for a bad challenge during a game against Birmingham on November 25 

Among those applauding Welch’s appointment was Newcastle boss Eddie Howe.

‘I think it’s a great moment,’ he said. ‘For me, it’s got to be based on ability, not gender, ability to referee and I fully support it.’

Sam Allison – who will oversee the match between Sheffield United and Luton on December 26 – becomes the first black referee to officiate in the English top flight since Uriah Rennie 15 years ago.

Before his retirement in 2008, Rennie officiated in the Premier League for 11 years.

Kick It Out also welcomed the news of Welch and Allison’s appointments.

‘Referees up and down the land are waking up this morning and thinking there are no barriers to get to the top,’ the anti-discrimination charity posted on X.

‘Visibility matters. Well done to @FA-PGMOL and organisations like @BAMERef for helping to create those journeys. There are many more inspirational stories to be told.’

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