Howard Webb defends PGMOL’s appointment process at tribunal

Howard Webb defended the Professional Game Match Officials Board’s (PGMOL) appointment process at a tribunal on Thursday and insisted he wanted officials to speak up “without any fear of any form of consequence.”

Webb, the PGMOL chief refereeing officer, said he “fully understands” female referee Lisa Benn’s disappointment at not being included on the FIFA international list, but rejected the idea she lost her spot because she lodged a complaint.

Benn, 34, alleged that she was “manhandled” by Steve Child, a PGMOL coach and former Premier League assistant referee, at a tournament on March 28-29 2023 that was put on to help officials learn how to use VAR, which has still not been introduced in the women’s game.

Benn claimed that after airing her grievance about Child, she was bumped down the list in the PGMOL’s rankings, which led to her losing her spot on the FIFA referees list.

That in turn resulted in her losing her PGMOL contract as a women’s select group match official. She now officiates matches in the Women’s Super League but on a self-employed basis.

The PGMOL denies all the allegations against them.

Earlier in the employment tribunal, Benn claimed that “people are scared to come forward and challenge inappropriate behaviour (with the PGMOL), because of the fear of consequence.”

Responding to that today, Webb said he remembered Benn making that point, during a meeting they had on October 23 2023, where Danielle Every, PGMOL chief operating officer, was also present.

“We said it should be reported without any fear of any consequence and that has been reiterated and repeated at annual conferences we hold,” he said at the tribunal today. “We want to know what’s on the minds of our officials and for them to speak to us without any fear of any form of consequence. We want the best officials out on the field and performing.”

Discussing the decision to rank Benn sixth, Webb said his hope was that would be enough for her to be accepted onto the FIFA referees list.

FIFA accept five places on their international officials list, but it was hoped they would make an exception and add one for 2024.

Webb described the chances of that happening as “really, really quite likely.” He said: “It would have been absolutely the right thing to do for FIFA to extend (the number of nominations), referees treasure this badge, they really, really do, we know they want to be on that list.”

He added: “We had high expectations that would be accepted in that particular year, we thought she’d be accepted because of the growth of the women’s game, the noises we were hearing was that was likely to be case, it’s highly regrettable it wasn’t, Lisa is a good referee.

“I fully understand Lisa’s disappointment, it’s really unfortunate that’s what happened.

“This is a competitive world in which we work. We produce a lot of other really good officials in this country and we have the difficult task sometimes of having to rank officials against each other.”

Webb explained how this involved taking a “more holistic” approach, and one that was not just reliant on a merit table (i.e. a performance based on an individual observer), but also factored in things such as physical attributes, ability to make contextual decisions, their interpersonal skills, knowledge of the game and refereeing insights.

Webb added how it “does happen from time to time” that an official who previously been on the FIFA list, was demoted from it, for reasons other than retirement or standing down.

He told the tribunal, for example, how that had occurred with Stuart Attwell in the men’s game.

In terms of the nomination process, the names were put forward by the PGMOL’s working group and then ratified by the FA’s Referees Committee. That is then passed on to UEFA initially, and lastly onto FIFA.

In her witness statement, seen by The Athletic, Benn said the ranking decision was led by the PGMOL and included Webb and his partner, Bibianna Steinhaus-Webb, who was then head of women’s referees.

Steinhaus-Webb is now Fifa’s head of women’s refereeing.

The incident dates back to a tournament in March 2023. In the final game of the schedule, which was running late because of a serious injury to a player that required an ambulance, Benn claimed she was “manhandled” by Child, as he wanted her to hurry up the teams and match officials.

She alleged that he also grabbed her by the arm and pulled her onto the side of the pitch at the end of the match, after a mass brawl broke out.

Speaking at the tribunal on Wednesday, Child denied manhandling Benn, telling the tribunal it was “a guiding arm if anything.”

He denied calling Benn “bloody minded” or saying her “card was marked.”

A PGMOL investigation, that was delivered on June 27, found Child’s conduct did not meet the threshold for disciplinary action. She did not appeal the decision.

The tribunal heard Benn then claimed there was a separate incident involving Child at a Select Group Women’s Professional Game camp on August 19. She claimed he leant in close to her face and intimidated her while she was waiting to check in at the hotel.

Child denied that and said he did not lean into her personal space.

The tribunal today heard how there was a PGMOL meeting on August 21, where the ranking of referees was discussed, two days after the hotel incident.

Referencing that on Thursday, Carla Fischer, representing Benn, told Webb: “She made a second complaint that a male PGMOL coach made unwanted threatening remarks to a female referee in the women’s game and that is why she was ranked sixth, wasn’t it?”

“No, that isn’t correct,” Webb replied.

The tribunal continues, with closing submissions from both legal sides scheduled on Friday.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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