Referee Rebecca Welch joked she may not be her fellow Women’s Super League inductees favourite person because of their interactions on the pitch.
Welch was inducted alongside former players Steph Houghton, Alex Scott and Gilly Flaherty. The WSL Hall of Fame is the highest honour in the women’s English top-flight.
Welch, who has broken records in her groundbreaking refereeing career, was the first referee to be inducted.
Rebecca Welch: ‘You don’t think about legacies as a referee’
Welch retired from refereeing in 2024 and is now the manager of PGMOL’s Select Group Women’s Professional Game. Throughout her career she blazed a trail for female referees.
She became an official in 2010 and refereed in the WSL from its first season in 2011. Welch also took charge of Women’s FA Cup finals and Women’s Champions League finals.
She also became the first woman to be appointed to referee a men’s EFL game, the first woman to referee a third round men’s FA Cup match and the first woman to referee a Premier League match.
Welch said on her reaction to being inducted: ” [I was] quite shocked because I never thought a ref would be inducted into the Hall of Fame from a league.
“Then you find out who you are being inducted alongside, you’re like ‘okay that is interesting, I am going to be onstage with three people who potentially think I am not their favourite person’.
“It shows how far the league has come, I have been involved in the league since the start.”
Welch added she didn’t think about a legacy as a referee because “it is always just ‘let’s get the decisions right and go home with nobody talking about us’ but there are some highlights in her career that standout.
“I always say the Women’s FA Cup final in 2017, being played at Wembley,” she said.
“To walk out at Wembley as the ref, I did the first one as a fourth official but you can’t beat that feeling of walking out as the referee [at Wembley]. The Women’s Champions League final in Bilbao as well.”
Refereeing in the WSL has been a discussion point over the past few seasons with the majority of officials part-time.
Welch said on the progression of referees: “I think we have come really far from where I first started to now, the league is a lot more professional and the approach to match officials is a lot more professional.
“I was lucky enough to be a part of that journey through and lucky enough now to be a part of it off the field taking the next generation through.
“Anything with leagues and referees, the referees are always that little bit behind just because the way it goes, the league comes first. As referees we are looking to be more professional and the ones I look after are professional in everything they do.”
