Elite officiating tough for women to crack

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

FIFA's policy for the Women's World Cup Finals is to use only female referees.
So the bias goes both ways. The men are completely shut out of the highest level of women's soccer.

Yet such a policy in the reverse would be headline news.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

Yet such a policy in the reverse would be headline news.

I'm quite sure there are many, many more elite high level soccer leagues that men play in than women so I doubt it is a hinderance to male officials.

[Rich]

Elite levels are tough for anyone to crack. I'm guessing that 1% (at best ) of minor league umpires go on to get full-time gigs in MLB. And how many people go to pro school and dont get jobs? If there are 2 women going to pro school, it means odds are it would take well over 100 years for one to make it, all things being equal.

At lower levels (HS and small college levels especially), it's different. I'm sure we all have seen below-average female officials promoted and assigned ahead of better male officials when females are playing. Right, wrong, or indifferent, I'd like to see ESPNW talk about that in its article.