The NFL is in its’ offseason. They are hiring new NFL referees for the upcoming season and one is historic. Sarah Thomas will be the first NFL full-time female official. Thomas has experience. She officiated conference USA games at the college level. She isn’t a stranger to the NFL. She worked in preseason games for the NFL as part of the NFL training program. Is this really that big of a deal?
Referees in general have a tough job, especially in the NFL. They have to deal with NFL coaches and players yelling at them on the sidelines, and complaining fans in the stands. The job of an official is to get the call right and that’s all that should matter. It shouldn’t make a difference if the referee is male or female, or the color of their skin. The right call is where they receive high marks from the NFL. If they do a great job they will obtain an excellent grade but a poor performance should equal an unsatisfactory rating. These help determine which officials will be assigned playoff games as well as the Super Bowl.
The NFL isn’t the only sport to use female officials. The NBA has two female referees currently working NBA games. They are Lauren Holtkamp and Violet Palmer. Lauren Holtkamp is in her first NBA season. When Holtkamp officiated a game between the L.A. Clippers and the Cleveland Cavaliers in February, she gave a technical foul to Chris Paul. Paul was upset with the call saying, “The tech I got was ridiculous. That’s terrible. There’s no way that can be a technical. We try to get the ball out fast every time down the court. When we did that, she said, `Uh-uh.’ I said, `Why uh-uh?’ and she gave me a technical. That’s ridiculous. If that’s the case, this might not be for her.” The NBA said it was the right call and fined Paul $25,000 for his comments. Violet Palmer is the other female ref. She has been officiating at the NBA level for 18 seasons. This includes over 900 NBA basketball games.
The NBA has seen the officiating makes no difference whether you’re male and female. They seem to make the same calls on both sides of the floor. The right calls are the ones that could make or break a game.
How do you feel about the NFL hiring a female official?
At least it’s a start but only that. Are there many female reps trying to get into major sports or just one or two? It’s not an easy job so let’s just see how they do.
There are two in the NBA. Adding her in the NFL makes three. Not sure if any of the other sports have any female officials or if they are considering adding any.
Fully qualified by some defined standards — go for it ….. no discrimination.
Just don’t push unqualified lady refs into the system to achieve quotas.
Selecting and promoting lady refs into the system may take some time if there is a
lack of qualified or yet to be qualified lady refs.