Women refs? It's all been done, says Badenoch's first
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The great news came this week that female referees are to officiate at a men’s World Cup for the first time with three assistant referees joining them.
Stéphanie Frappart of France, Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan have been included on the list of 36 referees for Qatar in November and December.
FIFA’s appointments have been hailed as a breakthrough for gender equality.
But the woman whose family have run the Tuck Shop in Newtonmore for many years wonders what the fuss is about – she was, after all, so good at refereeing men’s games that even the greatest footballer of all time just had to meet her!
“Yes, Pele wanted to meet me,” laughed Lyn MacIntosh as she shared her ‘secret’ with the Strathy.
“I was in the United States with my RAF husband Dave who happened to be an accredited soccer referee in the 1960s forces leagues.
“By the 1970s the sport was booming there and they needed help officiating at inter-collegiate games. That’s how I got my FIFA accreditation. Pele, playing with the New York Cosmos, was impressed – and I got to meet Eusebio, too!
“I got some stick from the players, but they got over it and I got on with the job. I loved it. I was good at it too!”
Back in the UK, Lyn found herself in the Stone Age of sports gender equality and she was ‘not required’.
Only when she went to Canada later was she in demand again, refereeing minor league games right through the 1980s.
“There was one guy who took offence at being ordered about the field by a mere woman” she recalled. “I was going to send him off – until a ‘rasta’ with a ghetto blaster on the touchline told us to ‘be cool’, offering us his joint!
“Needless to say I declined it but found it highly amusing, as did the player and we both did cool it.”
The incident was wryly captured in November by Canadian friends and professional comic strip creators David and James Collier, who had worked for Lyn’s son Dave on his music magazine.
The strip, as a gift to Lyn when staying in Raigmore Hospital at the time, proved a huge boost for her. Dave explained: “Mum had a challenging winter with her health, but those memories of her achievements have helped her roar back!”
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