“…In football, in which there is often an anti-referee sentiment, when referees are women, they not only have to withstand that pressure, but also have to cope with sexist appraisals, like being questioned, even before they have had the chance to demonstrate their worth (Forbes et al, 2015; Reid & Dallaire, 2020). In addition, female referees are the targets of other forms of less visible abuse, such as their underrepresentation in a sport based on a masculine model (Drury et al, 2022), the difficulties in developing and progressing in their careers (Webb, Gorczynski, et al, 2021) and the negative impact that all this can have on their mental health (Tingle et al, 2021).…”