Premier League appoints the third woman in its history to be an assistant referee
The Premier League has promoted only the third woman in its history to be an assistant referee – Natalie Aspinall clinching promotion to a role in the top-flight from next season, following in the footsteps of Sian Massey-Ellis.
The 40-year-old from Lancashire was a regular in the Championship last season as well as in the women’s Super League. In the women’s game she has been a Fifa-listed assistant since 2007 and was at the 2015 women’s World Cup in Canada. She has officiated at women’s World Cup qualifiers as recently as last season.
The decision by Professional Game Match Officials, joint owned by the Premier League, Football League and Football Association, comes as the elite game tries to change the profile of referees and assistants to replace those moving into retirement. In addition to Aspinall, the PGMOL managing director Mike Riley has promoted the 32-year-old referee Tom Bramall as well as assistants Nick Greenhalgh, 35, and Steve Meredith, a Nottinghamshire police officer, into the select group 1 of officials.
It comes as the experienced referees Mike Dean, Jon Moss and Martin Atkinson retire, with the latter two now working for Riley as select group 1 manager and coach respectively. As the Telegraph revealed last week, Riley will be under major pressure this week at the Premier League AGM, with some clubs angry at the standard of refereeing this season and the use of VAR. There are talks over 2010 World Cup final referee Howard Webb returning to England to a senior management role in PGMOL.
The first woman to work as an assistant in the Premier League was Wendy Toms in the 1990s. Massey-Ellis became the second in 2010. She was still working in the Premier League in the 2020-2021 season but did not have an appointment for last season, 2021-2022. PGMOL has said in the past that she has been injured.
Riley said: “Natalie, Nick and Steve are experienced assistant referees and have earned their place at this level. Natalie, who is a fantastic ambassador for English refereeing on the international stage, is the third female assistant referee to operate in the Premier League and will work alongside her now select group 1 colleague Sian Massey-Ellis.”
