Referees’ chief Howard Webb has denied that a former staff member lost her place on FIFA’s international referees list because she complained that a coach “manhandled” her.
Lisa Benn, 34, alleges she was grabbed and threatened by an assistant referee coach and that she unfairly lost her position on FIFA’s list after lodging a grievance. Months after the incident, Benn dropped from fifth to sixth in Professional Game Match Officials Limited’s (PGMOL) nominations to FIFA.
Webb, PGMOL’s chief refereeing officer and a former Premier League referee, told an employment tribunal that Benn’s lower ranking reflected others outperforming her. FIFA accepts five referees on its women’s list; PGMOL unsuccessfully sought to secure a sixth spot that season. Webb said PGMOL had “honestly” believed a sixth place was likely given the growth of the women’s game and indications from sports bodies, but that Benn was “correctly placed sixth based on the performance factors listed and the holistic view we’ve gone through.”
He described the process as competitive and said officials must be ranked against each other. The “holistic” approach included physical attributes, ability to make contextual decisions, in-game engagement, interpersonal skills on and off the pitch, and knowledge of the game.
The claimant said she no longer worked at PGMOL and now officiates matches as a self-employed referee.
Benn alleges that Steve Child, then a PGMOL assistant referee coach for the women’s game and a former Premier League assistant referee, grabbed her arm and “forcefully pushed” her onto a pitch at a Video Assistant Referee training tournament on 29 March 2023. A brawl broke out at the end of the game and Child is accused of later telling her: “Your card has been marked.” Child denies making that remark and says any contact was a “guiding arm if anything.”
A PGMOL investigation in 2023 found insufficient evidence to substantiate the claims and concluded Child’s behaviour did not meet the threshold for disciplinary action. After the investigation, Child and Benn attended a training camp on 19 August 2023; Benn alleges the coach intimidated her in the hotel reception. She raised that concern with Bibi Steinhaus-Webb, then PGMOL’s head of women’s referees and Webb’s wife.
PGMOL’s FIFA nominations were submitted the following month, and Benn learned in December that she had not been selected from the cohort. At the tribunal, Benn’s counsel asked Webb whether her second complaint about a male PGMOL coach making unwanted threatening remarks was the reason she was ranked sixth. Webb replied: “No, that is not correct.”
A meeting took place in October 2023 in which Benn, Webb and PGMOL’s chief operating officer Danielle Every discussed her issues with the investigation and Benn raised that officials feared raising grievances because of possible consequences. Webb said he recalled Benn raising that sense of fear among officials and expressed concern, adding that the issue had been discussed at annual meetings. “Of course, we want to know what is on the minds of our officials and for them to speak to us openly and confidently,” he said. “We want our officials out on the field and performing.”
Describing the status of the FIFA list, Webb said referees “treasure this badge” and reiterated PGMOL’s view that a sixth position was likely given the development of the women’s game. The employment tribunal continues.