Wendy Toms

Last updated

Wendy Toms
Full name Wendy Ann Toms [1]
Born (1962-10-16) 16 October 1962 (age 58) [1]
Dorset, England
Other occupation Parcel post manager
Domestic
YearsLeagueRole
1994–1997 Football League Asst. referee
1996–present Football Conference Referee
1997–2005 Premier League Asst. referee
International
YearsLeagueRole
2000–2005 FIFA listed (women) Referee

Wendy Ann Toms (born 16 October 1962) is an English former football referee from Broadstone, Dorset [2] who has officiated in the Football League and then the Premier League, both as an assistant referee. She was the first female ever to fulfil such roles at those levels. [3] She also served for FIFA on the women's international list. [4] Her other occupation is as a parcel post manager. [5]

Contents

Career

Toms took up refereeing in the late 1980s, [6] and progressed to become a reserve (now "fourth") official in the Football League in 1991 for the AFC Bournemouth versus Reading match in the old Third Division, which was then unique for a female. [3] She was the first woman to be included on the list of Football League assistant referees when she was chosen for the 1994–95 season, [3] and became a referee in the Football Conference two seasons later, [3] creating another precedent when she took charge of the game between Kidderminster and Nuneaton Borough her first Conference match as referee. Almost a year after that, she operated as an assistant referee in the Premier League, again, the first female ever to do so. [3]

Two years after her debut in that league, and having 'run the line' for referee Steve Dunn during Leeds United's 4–3 Premiership away win at Coventry City on 11 September 1999, [7] she was roundly criticised by the then Coventry manager, Gordon Strachan, who said in an interview with The Independent newspaper: "We are getting PC decisions about promoting ladies. It does not matter if they are ladies, men or Alsatian dogs. If they are not good enough to run the line they should not get the job. Saturday's was the worst assistant refereeing decision I have seen this season by far and I've said that in my report. The fourth Leeds goal was offside by at least four yards and there were numerous other bad decisions in the game. My message is don't be politically correct and promote people just for the sake of it." However, the president of the Referees' Association at the time, Peter Willis, replied: "She's a very good official...I think the situation is very sad. As a manager of a football club, Strachan is responsible for his players and he is entitled to his opinion on the performance of the officials, but to talk about the sex of the official is irrelevant." [4]

Toms' highest domestic honour was being appointed as an assistant for the Football League Cup Final between Leicester City and Tranmere at Wembley on 27 February 2000, [8] when the referee was Alan Wilkie. Leicester won this 2–1, with Toms indicating offside at one point to cause the Tranmere (and former Leicester) player David Kelly's "equalising goal" to be disallowed. [9] She was also an assistant referee in two matches at the 2000 Olympic Games, [6] having been selected by FIFA to operate on their women's international list. [4]

She took charge of the UEFA Women's Cup quarter-final first leg on 30 October 2003 between Brøndby IF of Denmark and Gomrukçu Baku of Azerbaijan, with the Danish side running out 9–0 winners. [10]

Toms refereed one match at the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship in England. This was the Group B match at Deepdale in Preston on 6 June 2005, between France and Italy, which finished 3–1 to the French. [11]

Although no longer officiating at the highest level, Toms still referees in the Football Conference. [12]

Wendy Toms was also named in derogatory fashion during the Richard Keys and Andy Gray rant regarding women officiating elite football matches in late 2010, which cost the two broadcasters their jobs. [13]

Related Research Articles

Gary McAllister Scottish football player and manager

Gary McAllister MBE is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is the assistant manager of Rangers.

Martin Atkinson English professional football referee

Martin Atkinson is an English professional football referee who officiates primarily in the Premier League. He is a member of the West Riding County Football Association.

Stephen John Lodge is an English former football referee, who retired from top-flight officiating at the end of the 2000-2001 season. He lives in Barnsley, Yorkshire, has a wife and one son, and works as a local government officer.

Amy Fearn English football referee

Amy Elizabeth Fearn is an English football referee from Loughborough, Leicestershire, who in 2010 became the first woman to referee in The Football League. With a degree in economics and a full-time career in accountancy, having also refereed football since age 14, she became only the second woman after Wendy Toms to rise to the position of assistant referee in English professional football. On 9 February 2010 she became the first woman to act as the main referee in a Football League match.

Viktor Kassai is a Hungarian football official and a former referee. He participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and refereed the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final. He has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2003. He retired as a referee on 30 December 2019.

Robert J. Harris is an English former football referee who operated in the Football League and Premier League. He was for a time regarded as one of the best linesman on the Premier League, before his promotion to first the Football League and then the Premier League referees lists. But his Premier League referee period did not go well as he was the recipient of criticism for some very high-profile contentious incidents at Arsenal, West Ham and Tranmere which without doubt disrupted his time on the referees list. During his refereeing career he was mainly based in the city of Oxford.

Anthony Taylor is an English professional football referee from Wythenshawe, Manchester. In 2010, he was promoted to the list of Select Group Referees who officiate primarily in the Premier League, and in 2013 became a listed referee for FIFA allowing him to referee European and international matches. In 2015, he officiated the Football League Cup final at Wembley Stadium when Chelsea defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2–0. Taylor returned to Wembley later that year to officiate the Community Shield as Arsenal beat Chelsea 1–0. He refereed the 2017 and 2020 FA Cup finals, both between Chelsea and Arsenal; Arsenal won on both occasions 2–1. Upon the selection, he became the first man to referee a second FA Cup final since Arthur Kingscott in 1901.

Matthew David Messias is an English former football referee, who operated in the Football League, the Premier League, and also for UEFA and FIFA. He was first based in York during his time as an official, subsequently moving to Barnsley, also in the county of Yorkshire. His other occupation was as a physical education teacher.

Assistant referee (association football) Football official

In association football, an assistant referee is an official empowered with assisting the referee in enforcing the Laws of the Game during a match. Although assistants are not required under the Laws, at most organised levels of football the match officiating crew consists of the referee and at least two assistant referees. The responsibilities of the various assistant referees are listed in Law 6, "The Other Match Officials". In the current Laws the term "assistant referee" technically refers only to the two officials who generally patrol the touchlines, with the wider range of assistants to the referee given other titles.

Michael Oliver (referee) English football referee

Michael Oliver is an English professional football referee from Ashington, Northumberland. His county FA is the Northumberland Football Association. He belongs to the Select Group of Referees in England and officiates primarily in the Premier League. He received his FIFA badge in 2012, allowing him to officiate in major international matches. Oliver was appointed to take charge of the final of the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Oliver was promoted to the UEFA Elite Group of Referees in 2018.

Sian Massey-Ellis English football referee

Sian Louise Massey-Ellis, is an English football match official who officiates generally in the role of assistant referee in the Premier League and the Football League. She has also been appointed to matches in the Football League Trophy, UEFA Women's Champions League, FIFA Women's World Cup qualification rounds, the FIFA Women's World Cup and the UEFA Europa League. Massey-Ellis was appointed to the FIFA list of women assistant referees in 2009 and turned professional in 2010.

Jonathan Moss (referee) English football referee

Jonathan Moss is an English professional football referee who officiates primarily in the Premier League having been promoted to the Select Group of Referees in 2011.

Alexandra "Saša" Ihringová is a Slovak-born football referee, based in Shropshire, who officiates in the role of assistant referee in the Football League.

Lale Orta is a Turkish former football player, coach, sports commentator and referee. She was Turkey's first ever FIFA listed woman referee. Currently, she is an academic in the field of sports science.

Paul Rejer is an English former football referee.

Craig Pawson English football referee

Craig Pawson is an English professional football referee who officiates primarily in the Premier League, having been promoted to the panel of Select Group Referees in 2013, as well as in the Football League.

Katalin Kulcsár Hungarian football referee

Katalin Anna Kulcsár is a Hungarian football referee. She is 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) tall and took charge of her first international match in September 2004, Malta versus Bosnia and Herzegovina. She refereed the final of the 2009 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship.

Stéphanie Frappart French association football referee

Stéphanie Frappart is a French football referee. She has been on the FIFA International Referees List since 2009, and has refereed several high-profile matches. She became the first woman to referee a major men's European match and a French Ligue 1 match, both in 2019, and the first woman to officiate a UEFA Champions League match in 2020. In 2021 Frappart became the first woman to take charge of a men's World Cup Qualifying match.

2019 UEFA Super Cup 44th edition of the annual football match organised by UEFA

The 2019 UEFA Super Cup was the 44th edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match organised by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. The match featured two English sides, Liverpool, the winners of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League, and Chelsea, the winners of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. The match was played at Vodafone Park in Istanbul, Turkey on 14 August 2019. The match was the first all-English UEFA Super Cup, and the eighth overall Super Cup to feature two teams from the same country. For the first time, the video assistant referee (VAR) system was used in the competition.

Kylie Cockburn Scottish association football referee

Kylie Margaret Cockburn is a Scottish football match official who officiates generally in the role of assistant referee in the Scottish Professional Football League. She has also been appointed to matches in the UEFA Women's Champions League and the FIFA Women's World Cup. Cockburn was appointed to the FIFA list of women assistant referees in 2013. She received media attention when she became the first female match official at a top-division men's match in Scotland in 2014.

References

  1. 1 2 Wendy Toms at Olympedia OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. Town of residence [ permanent dead link ]: confirmed in a match report at the Pitts Family website.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Date of first Conference match as referee Archived 18 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine , 31 August 1996 (also list of her other "firsts"): M. Gratton's Ladies First website.
  4. 1 2 3 Gordon Strachan's criticism of Toms, also FIFA status confirmation: article at The Independent website, via the FindArticles service.
  5. Woking v. Telford, first Conference match as referee, 1996 (also other occupation): article at The Independent website, via the FindArticles service.
  6. 1 2 Referee since late 1980s, plus other career information: ThisIsHampshire.net website.
  7. Match details, Coventry v. Leeds, 1999: soccerbase.com website.
  8. League Cup Final 2000, match details: soccerbase.com website.
  9. League Cup Final 2000, detailed report: article from The Independent website, via the FindArticles service.
  10. UEFA Women's Club Championship, referee for a quarter-final in 2003: RSSSF.com statistical website.
  11. Women's Euro 2005, referee for France v. Italy: zerozero.eu website.
  12. Still refereeing (Football Conference 2007): Guardian Unlimited website.
  13. Sky Sports' Keys and Gray, naming Wendy Toms on air: Telegraph.co.uk.

See also