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#Post#: 74725--------------------------------------------------
Re: Female Assistants
DIR By: bmb
Date: January 23, 2024, 6:05 pm
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Sian Massey Ellis was out for quite a while although it did feel
longer as she also went away on 2 possibly 3 UEFA/FIFA
tournaments as well. Perhaps they are easing her back in. Also I
believe there is a difference in fitness tests between the 2
leagues so maybe as she is coming back from a long injury she
has only taken the lower Championship one or possibly even
failed the PL one - that's just thoughts as to possible reasons,
no knowledge of that actually being the case.
#Post#: 74726--------------------------------------------------
Re: Female Assistants
DIR By: AFAref
Date: January 23, 2024, 6:14 pm
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--- Quote from: bmb link ---
>
> Wendy Toms was my "if you see it, you can be it" role model
back when I first qualified as a ref.
>
--- End Quote ---
I believe her, and Mrs Frampton were from your neck of the woods
as well?
Ms Toms was the real trail blazer from Women referees and she's
been kind of forgotten.
#Post#: 74727--------------------------------------------------
Re: Female Assistants
DIR By: bmb
Date: January 23, 2024, 8:29 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: AFAref link ---
>
> [quote author=bmb link=topic=5628.msg74714#msg74714
date=1706035130]
> Wendy Toms was my "if you see it, you can be it" role model
back when I first qualified as a ref.
>
--- End Quote ---
I believe her, and Mrs Frampton were from your neck of the woods
as well?
Ms Toms was the real trail blazer from Women referees and she's
been kind of forgotten.
[/quote]
Wendy Toms was from Broadstone if I recall correctly, a huge 4/5
miles away from bmb towers! Absolute trailblazer - first woman
to run the line in the football league August 1997, first female
referee to ever go to the Olympics, and the first and still the
only female (I think) to be part of the Football League Cup
final at Wembley. Works for Dorset FA nowadays which is based
literally just across the harbour to me. I can almost see the
building.
Janie Frampton was a Hampshire lass, Gosport I believe, although
did move to Dorset and went to Lytchett Matravers school. She
was based in Blandford (about 12/15 miles) fairly recently but
not sure if she still is or not. Of course when she was a young
girl Bournemouth was still a part of Hampshire, the border
changed in 1974. It's why AFCB come under Hants FA not Dorset FA
and most locals who like cricket support Hants not Dorset. Some
very useless local trivia for you!
#Post#: 74729--------------------------------------------------
Re: Female Assistants
DIR By: RCG
Date: January 24, 2024, 1:44 am
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Jamie is/was married to Dave Frampton, who himself was a FL
referee
Wendy Toms is an UEFA Observer of some note too
#Post#: 74733--------------------------------------------------
Re: Female Assistants
DIR By: John Treleven
Date: January 24, 2024, 4:30 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Wendy Toms was the senior referee at the Island Games in
Guernsey in 2003 so was appointed to the group decider between
Guernsey and Rhodes as it had "potential"
The match was reviewed twenty years on when Guernsey hosted
again in July 2023
Island Games: 'Rhodes rage' revisited
When the Guernsey Press was moving into the current office at
Braye Road in 2005, the editorial desk heads were asked for some
of their favourite cover stories which would be blown up into
enormous prints and used to decorate the walls. One immediately
sprang to mind as arguably one of the best headlines to adorn
the front page of the newspaper. It simply read, ‘Rhodes rage’.
To the thousands at the Corbet Field the previous evening, it
was one of the most memorable football matches they will ever
have seen.
Such were the extraordinary scenes as five of the Rhodes side
were sent off against the home island in their key group fixture
as ‘the friendly Games turned ugly’ that even those of us who
were on reporting duty at other Island Games venues were getting
phone calls about it – and this was long before social media, in
the days when having a mobile phone was still a novelty rather
than a necessity.
Due to the amount of red cards, the game was abandoned and it
was the last time Rhodes played in the tournament, with Guernsey
going on to win gold on home soil. Almost exactly 20 years on,
two of the key players in that Guernsey squad, Matt Warren and
Tony Vance shared their recollections of that tournament – and
that match in particular – for the Guernsey Press Football
Podcast Island Games special, but the passage of time has not
diminished their bewilderment at what happened.
They already had an idea of what was to come following their
clash with the same opponents at the Gotland 1999 Games. Tony
Vance: ‘I remember that game vividly actually, because I got
picked on in that game as well. Myself and Grant Chalmers, we
were subjected to a few instances and it was just bizarre
really. I don’t know why they behaved like that, in particular
to us. I don’t know if they saw us as a threat, but I wouldn’t
say we were a particular threat in 1999. It was carnage... we
we’re getting pinched, punched, spat at, they were doing all
sorts off the ball. So that was kind of, for me, an early
warning and sort of built up the expectation of the game. You
kind of think that four years on, it would be a different group
of people, different ethos, whatever, but it was probably quite
the opposite.’
In a nutshell, Guernsey had beaten Alderney 7-1 and Orkney 10-0
in their first two group games, but knew the fixture with Rhodes
would be pivotal. Within the first six minutes two of the Greek
players had been booked, but it was Rhodes who took the lead
with a brilliant free-kick from Savvas Karavolas on 10 minutes.
Seven minutes later came the first of six red cards in the game
after a horrible challenge on Vance and two more sendings off
followed – including Guernsey’s Ryan Tippett – before the home
side equalised through Paul Nobes retaken penalty. Early in the
second half, Guernsey were awarded another penalty, the taking
of which was delayed by Rhodes continually kicking the ball
away. Warren eventually scored from the spot, but in the
immediate aftermath there was more punching and stamping, but no
red cards. Two were to come 16 minutes later, though, after
Vance was shoved into the stand and shortly afterwards the game
was abandoned when a fifth Rhodes player was sent off. That was
not the end of the story, though, as the visiting team and their
supporters gathered in front of the stand, celebrating the
outcome and intimidating anyone who dared to try and restrain
them.
Matt Warren: ‘It was just a ridiculous game of football. There’s
no better way of putting it. Wendy Toms was the referee who was
most qualified, most experienced referee I think we had in the
Games at the time, so the decision was that she should then have
the Rhodes-Guernsey game given that it could get a bit fiery,
which I don’t think actually helped – not through her refereeing
ability, but I think through culturally maybe the respect that
she had from Rhodes, I don’t think went in the favour of how
they behaved. But it was just crazy. It’s a game we’re never
going to forget. The people there, they’re not going to forget
it either. It started pretty much straight from the kick-off and
I remember they went 1-0 up and it was a brilliant free kick. If
they actually just concentrated on playing football against us,
they’d have beaten us because they were good, they were really
good. But there were a couple of late challenges. I don’t know
what started it all off, but I just remember various incidents
during the game. I remember Tony getting pushed into the
concrete stand at the Corbet Field. He was running at pace,
which he had before all his ankle injuries, just running down
the line, knocked the ball and the guy just came in and arms
just straight out, just shoved him. Because of the amount of
people that were there as well, it was through them into the
stand. It was just mental.’
Tony Vance: ‘Because I landed in the crowd and an old lady ended
up on the floor, she ended up in the hospital from it. It was
horrendous. But yeah, we were kind of prepared for it a little
bit. We’d spoken about it and coach Colin Fallaize, as part of
his training process and plan, if you like, was gear us up for
any eventuality, be it you’ve got to run, you’ve got to give
everything you can, but also reactions to situations. When
you’re training, he’s a master at giving decisions that are
awful, can annoy you, really wind you up. He just does it on
purpose just to test your mentality and he was doing that
consistently during our training regime to the extent that
everyone was virtually wanting to beat each other up because
they were getting so wound up. Eventually it sort of clicked, if
you like, and we were very prepared for that. I would fear
knowing our current group the way they are, and sometimes what
they have to deal with in the English football leagues, I’m not
sure many of our players would stay on the pitch against Rhodes,
to be honest, because of their mentality and how they are. Given
our build up to the Games and the problems we had, I think an
awful lot of credit has to go to Fal for how he got the group
together. We were prepared to do anything for each other, as
well as keep our calm and focus in what were plainly ridiculous
situations. We had the kick off, the ball came back to me, I
remember just flicking it past this guy and bang, and he’s
booked within 20 seconds, sort of Vinnie Jones like. I rode the
tackle, but we thought, “well, okay, here we go”. Then, 10
minutes in, they got a free kick, they are 1-0 up and we’re in
trouble. You could tell in their eyes that there was something
up.
Matt Warren: ‘I think a lot of them had actually dyed their hair
or they had like strips in their hair. It was like they’d
psyched themselves up for this game, a bit like it was going to
be like a war and that’s how they approached it. It was like
WWE. It was challenges at waist height, going into you,
reactions, pushing, punching, spitting, kicking.’
Tony Vance: ‘The best thing was that because they dyed their
hair blue, I think it started raining and then all the dye went
in their eyes and their eyes started stinging, so that was quite
funny. But they were masters at trying to manipulate situations.
They’d worked out that they’d tag team players, so one person
would hit someone and then somebody else would get them, then
when a foul would go in they’d surround the player so the ref
wouldn’t necessarily know who it was. And there were instances
where sometimes you found yourself in their huddle It certainly
happened to me and I know it happened to Tippy, who eventually
lost it. When they get you in that huddle while you’re in there,
you’re stuck in there, they’re kicking you and punching you and
spitting in your face and you’re trying to get out. It was
carnage. I know the poor referee got hit as well when they
completely lost it. So it was an incredible game. I’d love to
see the footage again, but from what I was told they took it
away and used it as a FIFA training tool for referees. So I just
don’t know where it is, but it would just be gold that.’
Matt Warren: ‘When she sent off their fifth player... at that
point no one really knew what was going on because I don’t think
anyone had really witnessed a game before in local football of
five people being sent off and then what actually happens. So
the fact that it was then being stopped, I think the police came
down to the ground. The crowd were just flabbergasted by it
all.’
Tony Vance: ‘This is quite interesting because the fact they
knew this rule must mean that they’ve practised it or have been
part of it before, but they knew when a certain number are off
the field, the game gets abandoned. I can remember them saying
one more and the game’s abandoned and they were literally trying
to get sent off in the end. To a certain degree, it really,
really helped our progress in the competition. We’d come off the
back of a poor Muratti result and suddenly we had even more
support behind us because of the way we managed to deal with it.
Other sports were taking notice and funnily enough I think it
did football in Guernsey a lot of favours, because in the past
we’d never always been 100% accepted in the Island Games for
various reasons. So I think it went a long way to gain you some
respect. Despite the sort of tackles that we had to deal with,
we actually didn’t play that much in the game because it was
just stop-start, stop-start, so it probably saved our legs a
little bit.’
An emergency meeting of the Games organisers was convened that
night with the outcome being that Rhodes were ejected from the
football competition and Guernsey progressed to the semi-finals.
Tony Vance: ‘I can remember going home and there was a live
Games radio station that they had and that was going on into all
hours. People phoning up, it was quite interesting. Obviously
now it would be all over social media. I think we had a rest day
the next day, so it was dusting ourselves down and getting ready
for the next challenge.’
Guernsey went on to beat the Isle of Wight 3-1 in their
semi-final and capped a memorable week by winning the gold medal
match against the Isle of Man at Footes Lane, also 3-1, with
Warren the hat-trick hero.
Ironically that same week the 2007 Games were awarded to Rhodes.
The day after that their women's football team smeared their own
excrement over their changing room walls in a supposed protest
at their men's ejection from the competition. That fact was kept
out out of the Games coverage at the time for fear of it
overshadowing everything else that was going on.
#Post#: 74735--------------------------------------------------
Re: Female Assistants
DIR By: Bakis
Date: January 24, 2024, 5:33 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I was at the first Conference all female officials match,
Kidderminster v Nuneaton in an evening game. When Wendy led the
team on she ignored and swerved the numerous cameras and just
got on with it, which was of course exactly the right thing to
do. It's disappointing that a quarter of a century later we're
still waiting for the same thing to occur one level higher.
A rather sad time to reflect on this given what's happened at
Nuneaton in the last few days.
#Post#: 74739--------------------------------------------------
Re: Female Assistants
DIR By: nemesis
Date: January 24, 2024, 9:50 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Bakis link ---
>
> I was at the first Conference all female officials match,
Kidderminster v Nuneaton in an evening game. When Wendy led the
team on she ignored and swerved the numerous cameras and just
got on with it, which was of course exactly the right thing to
do. It's disappointing that a quarter of a century later we're
still waiting for the same thing to occur one level higher.
>
> ...
>
>
--- End Quote ---
Why is it disappointing ? It would be if competent officials
were being held back because of gender, but if anything the
opposite seems to me to be the case.
Given the significantly high ratio of male officials to female,
the chances of three being appointed together under the normal
appointing regime are small indeed. It would have to be
deliberately orchestrated .... and then what would that prove ?
#Post#: 74742--------------------------------------------------
Re: Female Assistants
DIR By: Whistleblower
Date: January 24, 2024, 10:57 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: nemesis link ---
>
> [quote author=Bakis link=topic=5628.msg74735#msg74735
date=1706095994]
> I was at the first Conference all female officials match,
Kidderminster v Nuneaton in an evening game. When Wendy led the
team on she ignored and swerved the numerous cameras and just
got on with it, which was of course exactly the right thing to
do. It's disappointing that a quarter of a century later we're
still waiting for the same thing to occur one level higher.
>
> ...
>
>
--- End Quote ---
Why is it disappointing ? It would be if competent officials
were being held back because of gender, but if anything the
opposite seems to me to be the case.
Given the significantly high ratio of male officials to female,
the chances of three being appointed together under the normal
appointing regime are small indeed. It would have to be
deliberately orchestrated .... and then what would that prove ?
[/quote]
If all officials did well it might prove that females can be
just as good as males in officiating together as a team. A fact
that most of us on RTR readily acknowledge but, believe it or
not, there are still some benighted souls out there who would
harbour doubts. Conversely if they perform badly, then they can
prove that a female team can be just as poor as some male teams.
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