Jawdat verses
A new page in the history of football writes today 14 August, specifically in the European Super Cup match between Liverpool and Chelsea, held in the Turkish city of Istanbul, because for the first time the referee will be a woman in a match of this size, the French Stephanie Frappart, in a step is the culmination For her excellent performance in judging the final of the 2019 Women's World Cup.
Frappart has two other women, Frenchman Manuela Nicolosi and Irish Michelle O'Neill, and the fourth referee is Turkish Conette Shaker.
This is a major victory for women in the field of sports arbitration and sports in general, it was customary to be a man, whether the match for men or women, and gradually became the norm of the presence of a female judge in women's sports, before the last few years witnessed the emergence of women as a referee arena Or assistant referee in men's matches.
Frappart started judging in the third division men's games in the French league in 2011, and then became the second division in 2014, and then this year joined the referees of the French first division beside her choice to referee in the final of the Women's World Cup and the European Super Cup, thus becoming the first woman to rule in a match Men at the top of the European competitions.
Although the English Premier League is the strongest in the world, it has not yet seen such a move and the refereeing of men's matches is still in the hands of men, because women in England are still not professional and technically ineligible to arbitrate in the Premier League men's matches, and they have so far failed to match The development of the English Premier League since the transition to professionalism, followed by a boom in the level of players in recent years, according to the report "BBC".
Tunisia in the foreground
On the Arab level, Tunisia took the lead in empowering "Women's Arbitration" and Dorsaf El Kantaoui became the first Arab and African woman to play a match in her country's Premier League.It was 2019 between Esperance and CA Bizertin, which Dorsaf commented, saying she was surprised to have chosen to referee this match. It has been in the men's second division since 2017.
Returning to some sports professionals in the Arab world, sports journalist Amr Fahmi asked the question, in light of the global trend of equality and women's empowerment and the domination of some feminist institutions over a large part of the public opinion from his point of view: Will the selection of women to arbitrate in men's sports specifically be subject to competence? 100% experience, or other trends that may be political or social?
Fahmi said that in the game of football, of course, the performance of the referee is always questioned by the audience of the losing team, and the coach is criticized by the same audience, but it is possible that the reaction of the public if one of them is a woman, anger or discontent more than usual Given the nature of the male game since its invention, it may be natural for the public to question the relatively recent experience of women in football, something unfair to be associated with discrimination against women.
Don't understand anything
One of the most famous facts is the lawsuit filed by Eva Carneiro, a medical therapist and the first woman doctor in Chelsea, one of Britain's top men's football teams, to coach Jose Mourinho during her work in 2015, after he publicly attacked her and accused her of not understanding anything in a football game. Foot, commenting on the suspension of the match to treat a player, a behavior that Carneiro described as racist.
As for the European Super Cup, which was assigned to Frappart, UEFA has sent an official complaint to Italian Analisa Mukia and fellow countryman Giulia Nicastro to attend the Istanbul match, after they were subjected to racist comments from a TV commentator and Serie A player during the match. Referees in one of the local Italian games.
The question remains: is the selection of the majority of the refereeing team in this match essentially ceremonial and will not result in more female advancement, or is it a cornerstone for a near future in which it is natural to see coaches and judges in men's tournaments, as in the case of men in women's tournaments? The coming years will carry the answer.