TWO teenagers were arrested at a football match yesterday for allegedly aiming misogynistic chants at a woman ref.
Police said they heard the 17-year-olds insulting Rebecca Welch, 39.
She was reffing Birmingham City’s home clash against Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship.
West Midlands cops said they arrested the pair on suspicion of a public order offence.
A spokesperson said: “We’ve arrested two boys for misogynistic chanting at the female referee.
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“Our officers heard the chants being directed at the official.”
Ms Welch, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, was the first woman to referee a Championship game.
Welch took up football refereeing while she was still working in the health service.
The former NHS admin officer started her life as a ref in university football clashes and Sunday League games.
And while the college football encounters involving teams of female students were a “doddle”, her experience of refereeing men’s Sunday division fixtures was less straightforward.
Welch told the FA’s web site: “The first couple (of matches) I did were women’s university games and the players weren’t really that bothered about so it was a doddle.
