AFC Women assistant referees Ho Sarah May Yee and Flynn Allyson Clare from Australia have made history as first women to officiate in a men’s competition of AFC.
AFC Women assistant referees Ho Sarah May Yee and Flynn Allyson Clare from Australia have made history as first women to officiate in a men-s competition of AFC.
These remarkable achievements were made in the opening match of AFC U-16 Championship 2014 Qualifiers Group J between Japan and the Philippines by Sarah and Clare officiated the second match of the group later between Indonesia and Vietnam.
“We are very pleased on the performance shown by the two women assistant referees in those historical matches,” AFC-s Director of Referee Yoshimi Ogawa told www.the-afc.com.
“AFC Referees Committee made the decision of the appointment based on the evaluation of their technical and physical performance. Their fitness level is excellent and meets the requirement of men-s football.
“It is high time to provide more exposures to women referees in men's competitions based on their good performance.
“We believe that this experience is a new prospect and support for the development of women's referees and women football. And we do expect more women referees to work hard to reach at this standard,” added Ogawa.
“ Firstly, we thank AFC for the opportunity and we are very excited to be here (in Kuala Lumpur for the qualifiers) and it is an honour to be appointed in men-s tournament of AFC and to have the opportunity to learn from everyone,” a visibly ecstatic Sarah said.
“Previously, we had done it in A- League in Australia and there were similar reactions because in Australia players just see us as another official and it doesn-t matter to them about the gender,” she added.
“ We just want to have good performance and as well as use the opportunity to become better assistant referees and furthermore to enjoy the competition,” Clare said.
“It-s good football, for men-s as well as women-s football,” she added.