History of Female Officials

Officiating has traditionally been a job for just the men. I am not sure why but I guess it is because the players have been predominantly males of our species and the whole thing of the field being a place for the guys only. Not true though as we have some great examples of women currently doing a great job in stripes, and some throughout history of the game as well.

By now we have all watched an NFL game or more where a young lady named Sarah Thomas has been seen wearing the stripes of an NFL line judge. Ms. Thomas has the distinction of being the first permanent female official in NFL history. In fact on April 8, 2015, the NFL announced that Thomas would become a member of Referee Pete Morelli's crew. Sarah worked her first regular season game on September 13, 2015 as the Kansas City Chiefs faced the Houston Texans.  Sarah is a pretty solid official, even earning the right of becoming the first female to work on the field during Super Bowl LV. No small task as she was chosen from 16 other officials that work the same position for the honor. She is one tough customer too as according to reports on December 24, 2016, Thomas broke her wrist in a mid-game collision on the sideline of a Vikings-Packers game. After being looked at for a brief concussion protocol, Thomas returned and finished the game with the broken wrist.

Sarah has been a quiet source of subtle change in the League as in 2017, Thomas moved to the down judge position. The change in the position name from head linesman coincided with the move in order to use a gender-neutral term. This was not Sarah's first officiating gender breakthrough though, she is also creditted with being the first woman to officiate a major college football game, the first to officiate a bowl game, and the first to officiate in a Big Ten stadium. Take it from me, these are accomplishments that most male officials wish they had the opportunity too. These are reserved to the cream of the crop, and Sarah Thomas defintiely fits into this category for her competence in the black and white stripes.

However Sarah Thomas was not the first to represent the shield zebras. Shannon Eastin was actually the first female official of the National Football League. Ms. Eastin was hired as a replacement official in 2012 during the lockout of full-time officials which began in June of that year. She officiated her first game on August 9, a preseason game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Diego Chargers as the line judge.

It is not certain who exactly may have been the first woman to officiate a football game, but we do have a front runner for the title. Back on November 28, 1908 in Toledo, Ohio a young lady named Sophia Henry was the referee of a game played between the West Toledo and Lincoln elevens.

29 Nov 19 08, Sun The Buffalo Times (Buffalo, New York) Newspapers.com
According to the article, Sophia did not take any balongna from the players either, she was a focussed on creating a playing field for both teams. On one occassion she sntached the ball out of a players hands that was giving her gruff and whistled the ball back in play right after. At another point in the contest Ms. Henry was quoted to say, "Never mind the talk, the ball was dead as soon as it hit the ground!" There is not much retort that can be made by an arguing capptain when an official states a fact like that.

I look forward to seeing women take the role of the impartial on field judges of the game we love. So far history has proven that they can definitely perform the task.

The NFL is helping to sponsor a program to promote and prepare women interested in officiating hone their craft. According to the League's website there is a program called Women Officiating Now or WON. A statement on the website says:

"Women are pursuing football officiating as a career. Women are teaching others to become great officials. Women are breaking barriers across the sport of football and making NFL officiating history. Women are officiating now.

And the NFL wants to introduce more women to football officiating and see more women working as officials nationwide. Women Officiating Now (WON) aims to do just that. Launched in 2013 as part of the NFL’s Football Officiating Academy (FOA)." 

The NFL claims that there are many candidates in the pipeline of this successful program that may soon see the field in games you could be watching. These are exciting times indeed.