Meet The Ref - West Brom v Latics

Latics travel down the M6 on Tuesday to face West Bromwich Albion in a vital Championship game for both clubs, the referee for the game will be County Durham official, Rebecca Welch.

 

Rebecca Welch

This will be the first time that the Washington born Welch has been in charge of either a West Brom or a Latics game, having only made her Football League debut in 2021 taking charge of the Harrogate v Port Vale encounter in April of that year, making history by becoming the first female referee to officiate in any of the top four divisions.

The 39 year old official became a ref back in 2010, she started refereeing University games and Sunday League matches before being promoted to the Women's Super League, she took charge of the both 2017 and 2020 Women's Cup Finals, as well as the Women's FA Community Shield at Wembley in 2020.

She has also refereed 25 National League games covering three seasons, 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21.  

This campaign, Rebecca has been in charge of 14 games including one Championship match, Birmingham v Preston back in January, the others were spread over the EFL Trophy, FA Cup and League One and Two.

A former NHS administrator, Welch says she never really had ambitions to become a referee in the men's game:

 'It's a bit surreal because I never wanted to be a ref, that was never the plan' 

 'If somebody had said "in 11 years' time, you'll be on the list for EFL referees", I'd probably have just laughed at them.' 

'It's a role people look at and think "why would you want to be a referee?" but actually the rewards you get out of it, it's completely changed me as a person, it's completely changed my life, for the better. 

 'It's kind of gone in a whirlwind. I've really enjoyed it.' 

 

Rebecca Welch  Card Watch 2022/23

Games – 14

Yellows – 44

Reds – 0

Penalty Awards - 2

 

West Bromwich Albion v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Rebecca Welch
Assistants – Shaun Hudson and Jonathan Hunt
Fourth Official – Geoff Eltringham

 

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the West Brom game