Referee coach denies ‘man-handling’ WSL official

After she claimed to have been “forcefully pushed” by a referee coach during a match, the women’s Super League referee, Lisa Benn, has denied “manhandling” her.

Benn, 34, claims that Steve Child threatened and shoved her during a March 2023 training event for staff members of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).

The complaint was investigated by the English football’s refereeing body, which determined that Child’s behavior did not meet the required standards for disciplinary action.

Child claimed that it was a “guiding arm if anything,” but that he didn’t recall making any physical contact with her in his tribunal witness statement, which was given to the panel on Wednesday.

The former Premier League assistant referee continued, “I lightly put an arm across her back in a sense of “let’s go.”

Child refuted Benn’s claim that she was being treated “because she is a woman.”

A previous injury had caused the kick-off to be delayed, and Child was alleged to be attempting to stifle the start of the game.

After a heated youth game broke out in full force at the end, he denied grabbing Benn a second time and said “your card has been marked.”

A six-foot man who is stressed, who has been told to chill, physically moves a five-foot woman onto a pitch, according to Carla Fischer of Benn.

There is no other way for this contact to be grabbing and manhandling, she continued.

Child responded, “That’s not correct.”

He also refrained from intimidating Benn at the hotel reception at a training camp that he and Lisa both attended on August 19, 2023, saying, “I think that might be a confusion on Lisa’s part.”

Benn claims that because she complained to PGMOL about his behavior, she unfairly lost her position as a Fifa international referee.

She claimed that she was informed that Howard Webb, the organization’s chief refereeing officer, and his wife Bibi Steinhaus-Webb, the women’s referees’ head, would not punish her for speaking out.

Benn stated at the hearing on Tuesday that there is a fear of consequences that causes the women’s group to raise grievances and concerns.