WSL1 19/20 | Reading + Ref v United | Sun 2nd Feb at 2pm

It's the easy option to always blame the referee, but in this case it was a poor decision. All I can think is that as Katie lifted her arms, if the referee was in the centre of the pitch, it may have looked like she handled, but she should have consulted the assistant referee. But even so, not one Reading player appealed for a pen, only the corner, so that in itself should have told the referee something was wrong. I was disappointed with Reading's reaction, they could have told the ref she didn't handle it, or missed the pen, but hey ho. Last night on the Women's Football show they also said what a terrible decision it was, and how the officiating in the Women's game needs to have a major upgrade.
 
red woppit said:
It's the easy option to always blame the referee, but in this case it was a poor decision. All I can think is that as Katie lifted her arms, if the referee was in the centre of the pitch, it may have looked like she handled, but she should have consulted the assistant referee. But even so, not one Reading player appealed for a pen, only the corner, so that in itself should have told the referee something was wrong. I was disappointed with Reading's reaction, they could have told the ref she didn't handle it, or missed the pen, but hey ho. Last night on the Women's Football show they also said what a terrible decision it was, and how the officiating in the Women's game needs to have a major upgrade.
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I think that's exactly it. She saw Katie with her arms raised and assumed it hit her arm and calls it. It's what happens next that moves it from unfortunate mistake, into a serious one. As you say, the Reading players turn away looking disappointed or to prepare for a corner - what they don't do is appeal for a penalty. The United players are moving for a corner, then just look confused by why she's pointing at Katie Zelem.

Experienced refs read that vibe and pause to have a think - they wander off to chat to the assistant and give themselves a chance to replay what they saw and what they think they saw. She didn't, she immediately doubled down, booked Zelem, booked Sigsworth and if Katie hadn't quickly ordered the team to calm down then we'd probably have had another few booked and maybe even a red card there.

I think she was still psyched up from booking Stoney and she'd gone into "must stamp my authority" mode there. We see it happening with experienced refs who are actual fulltime pros, but at least they get paid to have their embarrassing errors broadcast on TV. For the women's game it gets added to the symptoms list that questions how seriously the FA take the idea of professional teams - along with the scheduling, the number of (late) postponements for unplayable pitches and medical cover for injured players.
 
Good to see her raising this, because the BBC didn't in their initial match report or on their highlights show on Sunday evening.
 
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