There were some boos and half-hearted chants, but she maintained quiet and calm authority when she took charge in Fulham v Burnley
It’s said that the mark of a good performance for a football referee is not being noticed. That was always going to be a tall order for Rebecca Welch, who on Saturday became the first woman to referee a Premier League match in Fulham’s 2-0 home defeat by Burnley.
Amid the glare of history and the adrenaline fug of 22 rule-bending millionaires, it was like asking a white hen to maintain a low profile in a fox’s den. As gender milestones go, it wasn’t quite up there with, say, Valentina Tereshkova being the first woman in space, but it was certainly a maiden voyage into a potentially hostile environment.
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