Rebecca Welch turned the primary lady to referee an English Premier League soccer match when she blew the whistle on Fulham’s recreation towards Burnley at Craven Cottage on Saturday. Welch, a 40-year-old from Washington in northeast England, was working for the National Health Service when she started her refereeing profession in 2010. She rose by the officiating ranks and, in 2021, turned the primary lady appointed to referee a match within the English Football League when she took cost of the fourth-tier fixture between Harrogate and Port Vale.

Welch was additionally the primary feminine official to referee matches within the Championship and third spherical of the FA Cup.

Last month she turned the primary lady to behave as fourth official in a Premier League recreation as a part of the officiating staff for Fulham’s match towards Manchester United.

Welch has additionally taken cost of a number of high-profile ladies’s fixtures, together with video games on the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

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