Referee Changing Rooms

[May2024]

Does anyone know where football referees get changed?

"Lucy" Clark is the first trans manager in English Women's football, just wondered where he would change.

JK tweeted * When I was young all the football managers were straight, white, middle-
aged blokes, so it's fantastic to see how much things have changed.*

I make no apologies for the the Daily Mail link

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13407513/JK-Rowling-accused-cruelty-mocks-transgender-football-manager-comparing-straight-white-middle-aged-bloke.html

just wondered where he would change.

She.

Nope. Clearly a “he”. 😊

LOL no

No - he’s not changed sex and never can, always a he. Why on earth are you so happy to give away women’s rights?

generally depending on the level being played, referees will either arrive changed due to lack of facilities or will have a changing room for officials

Now that so many actual women are referring elite male sport, I’m assuming more grounds are having to deal with having 2 separate changing rooms for officials

Most sports changing room buildings have a separate smaller room for match officials. In all the years I played rugby I never saw a ref use the same room as any of the teams.

just wondered where he would change.

Did you really, or did you just want a pretext for yet another thread on this subject, and for posting the photos?

I'm fully gc, but honest to god I don't think anyone gets anything useful from yet another thread for rehearsing anger and well-worn phrases. It wrongfoots the gc position, facilitating the sentences in that guardian article about mn the other day. In that article the author went halfway towards acknowleding women's reasonable concerns as expressed on mn, but then went on to add words to the effect of 'oh but the obsession, shading into bigotry'
If you have useful points to make, then make them. Don't just bob your pitchfork up and down.

The presence of trans women in women’s sport and the practical impact of that is a valid question. The other officials are very likely to be biological women so if there is an officials changing room where they all change together, what do those women do?

What if they don’t want to change with Lucy? Lucy gets all the facilities for Lucy and women are pushed out

The presence of trans women in women’s sport and the practical impact of that is a valid question.

There is zero info in the story about changing facilities, so no reason to use this story as another thread for discussing changing facilities. Basically the thread is just, "Oh, look, a transwoman."

These people have always existed, and until the recent absurd over-reach of trans activism, there was room for tolerance. We can still preserve that tolerance if law and society cease requiring us to parrot falsehoods or give up our rights to acknowledge and organise around our material sex, and preserve sex-based rights.

Try to think back a decade, to a period before the absurd TRA activism that created the current situation. What would you have thought then of someone who basically just pointed at a transwoman to express mistrust and hostility?

A decade ago TW weren’t busily inserting themselves into everyone female space they could find with no thought for the impact on women and didn’t demand everyone considered them actual women

That's not necessarily true, given the dearth of female officials. If you look at the picture of Lucy reffing, there's one female lino, and one male. A bigger question is what are the FA rules about male managers being in the dressing room while the women's team are changing.

I like her sense of humour.

The pink whistle ffs.

I wish crossdressers would go back to doing it privately. It’s offensive to women.

I'm probably way out of step here but...on the one hand I find JKR's tweet funny, but I'm also not sure of the point. When people like Clark are being touted as the 'first woman' to do something I get the objection. However when they are 'the first transperson' I'm not sure that jumping on it doesn't make GC women just look like they hate transpeople doing anything. Anyway I'll await the flak.

I'm not sure that jumping on it doesn't make GC women just look like they hate transpeople doing anything.

Yes, that's what I'm afraid of. It is natural to become embittered, in such difficult times. But it doesn't help the gc cause whatsoever. And of course it is part of a much wider social trend towards mutual hostility and rage on a whole range of issues, in which the idea of actually creating solutions takes second place to the alleged value of expressing righteous outrage.
Ultimately we want to solve a problem, not just Be Right.

This.

Don't forget now everything is transphobic and threats of violence for being a terf are also how they work.

I do agree with this. I’m gender critical. I disagree with males in womens sports and changing rooms. I disagree with them getting female awards, etc. but I don’t like putting the spotlight on an individual in this way. Fair enough if it’s the male weightlifter on the NZ women’s team, a spotlight needs shining on that. But this person isn’t taking anything away from a woman.

I feel bad for his wife. I think it’s important a man doesn’t get treated like some trailblazing hero for wearing a wig, blowing a pink whistle and claiming that he is ‘living as a woman’.

I feel humiliated seeing those pictures of him. It’s taking the piss out of us and getting off on it at once.

I'm with JKR. He's taking the piss out of all of us.

How many women (natal ones) are in similar roles (as a percentage of the total)?

I feel humiliated seeing those pictures of him. It’s taking the piss out of us and getting off on it at once.

Once you see it you can't unsee it.

What the actual hell??

I absolutely did wonder where they would change, as I remembered that bloody swimming judge who liked to get changed with the young girls!! Think it was Canada.

I wondered if the female refs and young girls would have to get changed with him.

I mean good on him for being the first transwoman ref, if that makes him happy.

But not good on him if he likes to get changed with women/girls.

And thanks to PPs who have answered my question.

Indeed. They used to call it 'peaking' but in my experience it's more of a thud. You thud back down to earth, and see a cross dressing man, nothing more, nothing less.

Ten years ago that would have been an unexceptional observation. Now, we are somehow told that it's a value judgement to say this is a cross dressing man, and that it's 'cruel' to say so. It's not, it's just a plain, straightforward statement of fact.

Why is a cross dressing man being given awards, newspaper front pages, and plaudits? What is it that's so special about wearing lipstick?

Isn't a manager and a referee a different thing?

The refs for my DS's football team tend to turn up already changed, and leave in their kit at the end of the match.

Most of the teams they play don't have a club house. Those that do would probably have a separate area for the match officials to get changed as they wouldn't be allowed to change with the players.

Don’t lots of women’s football teams have male managers and coaches? Hopefully there’s plenty of spaces for Lucy to change in without encroaching on the female spaces. And I agree with some others on here - celebrate the first transwoman referee on a women’s team, as they no doubt celebrated the first transwoman referee on a male team - as long as they’re not being celebrated as the first female ref. JKR is under unimaginable online harassment on a daily basis - occasionally she does a ‘For Fucks Sake!’ post and I can’t blame her but I prefer it when she writes her brilliantly crafted, eloquent posts - but she’s only human and I’ll forgive her this slight wobble of the halo 😇