The Premier League's first ever female referee, Rebecca Welch, gets to practice on one of the top flight sides when she takes charge of QPR and Bournemouth for the first time in her career at Loftus Road on Saturday.
Referee >>> Rebecca Welch (Washington), made Premier League debut at Fulham v Burnley on December 23.
Assistants >>> Stuart Burt (Oxfordshire) and Daniel Cook (Hampshire), ordinarily this is Michael Oliver's team of officials for Prem games.
Fourth Official >>> Tom Reeves (Birmingham)
First QPR appointment.
Welch is part of a development group of officials being fast-tracked through to the divisions by the PGMOL to try and improve the standards of refereeing at the top end of the game. She became the first woman to referee a Premier League game when she made her debut at Fulham 0-2 Burnley on December 23. She hasn’t had a QPR game before, but she was fourth official for the controversial 1-0 loss at Leeds in October where goalkeeper coach Gavin Ward was booked for dissent towards her.
In ten games this season she’s shown 51 yellows and two reds, including one in her last outing at Sheff Wed’s 1-0 win at Preston. She tops out with eight yellows at Derby 1-1 Wycombe. Last season she showed 87 yellows and no reds at all in a year that culminated with three games at the Women’s World Cup in Australia. It also included her first two outings in the Championship – Birmingham 1-2 Preston and West Brom 1-0 Wigan. She has never refereed QPR or Bournemouth before.
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