November 19 – Women’s Super League referee Lisa Benn has told an employment tribunal she lost her place as an international official after speaking up about an incident involving a senior Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) coach/instructor.
Benn (pictured) says that at a PGMOL-run Video Assistant Referee (VAR) training event in March 2023, Steve Child, a former Premier League assistant referee and respected coach inside the organisation, “forcefully pushed her” while trying to hurry her back on to the pitch after a long delay caused by an injury.
However, this match with low stakes is precisely the kind of environment where referees are given the space to learn and grow, without the intimidation of 50,000 screaming fans. But according to Benn, the professional dynamic shifted the moment she challenged him.
“I am a trusted referee, I referee at the highest level – this was an under-19s game,” she told the panel. “He felt superior, he felt like he could come on and tell me how to referee, he manhandled me on to the field of play – he would never have done that to a male referee.”
Her frustration didn’t end there. She says that when she pushed back at Child’s instructions to “kill the game”, he later seized her arm and warned her that “your card has been marked”. She remembered his fury vividly: “He was so angry his eyes were bulging out of his head.”
Benn believes that after filing her complaint, PGMOL quietly stopped recommending her for FIFA selection, despite previous assurances from Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer, and his wife, Bibi Steinhaus-Webb, who was then head of women’s referees, that she wouldn’t be penalised for coming forward.
PGMOL’s lawyer, Jesse Crozier, pushed back, suggesting Child “would have put his arm behind you and ushered you on to the pitch at the same time”, a version Benn flatly rejected. Crozier also argued: “If you had been dragged, grabbed and pushed at a training tournament with dozens and dozens of people, someone would have seen it.” But Benn stood her ground.
The case shines a spotlight on the challenges women face in a system that often still struggles to treat them as equals. The hearing continues.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1763516928labto1763516928ofdlr1763516928owedi1763516928sni@r1763516928etsbe1763516928w.kci1763516928n1763516928
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