WSL referee ‘lost role’ after complaint to PGMOL

After complaining that a referee coach “manhandled” her at a game, a Women’s Super League referee claims she lost her position as an international official.

Steve Child, a Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) coach and former Premier League assistant referee, “forcefully pushed her,” Lisa Benn claimed in an employment tribunal in London on Monday.

However, after filing a complaint, she claimed in a witness statement that PGMOL had not given her the same level of recommendation as it had previously, which resulted in her being placed on Fifa’s international referee list.

Benn, 34, claims that she was informed by Howard Webb, the organization’s chief refereeing officer, and his wife Bibi Steinhaus-Webb, the then head of women’s referees, that she would not be punished for speaking out.

PGMOL conducted an investigation into the complaint, but it turned out that the child’s behavior did not meet the required standards for disciplinary action.

The alleged incident occurred at a PGMOL-organized tournament to train staff on video assistant referees (VAR), which were not used in the women’s game, in March 2023, according to the hearing on Monday.

When Benn claims Child allegedly pressured her to get a game started right away, grabbed her arm, and “forcefully pushed” her onto the pitch, the schedule was delayed due to a serious injury.

The tribunal was informed that the game she officiated eventually grew heated, and Child instructed a fourth official to “kill the game” Benn.

Benn responded by saying, “Don’t tell me how to referee,” and also directed an expletive at Child.

She told the panel, “This was an under-19s game, and I referee at the highest level.”

She continued, “He felt superior, he felt like he could come on and tell me how to referee,” and that he “would never have done that to a male referee.”

Benn refrained from expressing his belief that Jesse Crozier, for PGMOL, would have simultaneously put his arm behind you and ushered you onto the pitch, but he refuted this claim.

When asked if she had witnessed him behave that way with other referees, Benn responded, “Yes, I have to female referees.” I don’t referees to men.

Child grabbed her arm and said, “Your card has been marked,” she said at the end of the game.

She continued, “He was so angry that his eyes were bulging out of his head.”

Someone would have seen it if you had been dragged, grabbed, and pushed at a training event, Crozier said, which Benn disagreed with.