EDITORIAL
>> For the year 2019, the International Federation of the History of Football and Statistics (IFFHS) awarded the title of best football referee in the world in the French women's ranking Stéphanie Frappart. In particular, she had arbitrated the final of the last World Cup in France. Our editorialist Virginie Phulpin stresses the importance of grouping the men's and women's rankings for the award of the best referee trophy.
"We say ma'am or the referee?" You can accompany this question with a fat laugh, that's what Stéphanie Frappart sometimes hears on the pitch: you have to stay zen, I'll want to get out of the boxes at all. It shows that her ascent is full of pitfalls, and that a woman must still prove, every day, that she has her place with a whistle in the central circle. it's slow, it's difficult, but we can thank Stephanie Frappart for the titan job she's doing.
Best referee in the world in the women's rankings! Each year, the IFFHS is a statistical research organization on football, publishes its ranking of the best referees. And for 2019, it is thus Stéphanie Frappart which was sacred. I can tell you that this kind of distinction is rare for France, our refereeing body is not at its best. Only one French referee was distinguished. Michel Vautrot in 1989. Yes, the Berlin Wall had just fallen. The adjective historical is often used for a nothing, but here it can really apply to Stephanie Frappart.
And for you, it's just a start
Stéphanie Frappart is a pioneer. She refereed the final of the women's world cup this summer. She was the first woman to officiate a European Supercup between Chelsea and Liverpool. The first to referee a match of Ligue 2, then of Ligue 1. All the levels, she climbed them. And she suffered all possible sexist remarks. In the amateur world, there is a pack of insults coming down the stands. Gentlemen, you will have to get used to, Stephanie Frappart is conquering the world. The pros were a little skeptical at first, the referee also, we do not get rid of decades of masculine inter-personal. But she convinced them.
To go further, it would be a good idea to establish a world ranking of referees without distinction of sex. They all work on the same ground. It would surprise me that Stéphanie Frappart is afraid of competition from men. And if we want equality, it also goes through that. Not the same sex, but the same passion.
The best referee in the world also wants to create vocations for young girls. There are a thousand women referees in France, out of a total of 26,000. Even the French public is demanding more women referees today. It's a beginning. What to cut the whistle of the refractory to change. "