Refs chief backs female official

Amy Rayner, the assistant referee targeted by Luton manager Mike Newell yesterday, has received the full backing of referees’ chief Neale Barry.

Rayner angered Newell after running the line during Luton’s 3-2 defeat to QPR, with the Hatters boss describing her appearance as “tokenism for the politically-correct idiots”.

But Barry, the Football Association’s head of senior referee development, said: “Female referees and assistant referees are a very important part of the game and deserve proper respect.

“They do a very demanding job very well, in often difficult circumstances.

“Amy Rayner is one of our leading female referees and is one step away from the national list of referees.

“At the moment she is a FIFA assistant referee and the FA have nominated her for the FIFA women’s referees list for 2007.

“Amy enjoys enormous respect within refereeing circles and has our full support, as do the rest of our female match officials.

“The long-term future of the game relies on getting more people involved in refereeing and staying with it, men and women alike.

“There are currently 27,000 referees in this country but there is still a shortage. English football needs more Amy Rayners.”

The FA had earlier confirmed they will be looking into Newell’s comments.

Newell said: “She (Rayner) should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.

“We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom.

“It is absolutely beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women, because then we are in trouble?

“It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems.

“This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots.”

An FA spokesman said: “All we can say at the moment is that we will be investigating when we have discovered what was said.”