Rugby: 'Women should be picking up the whistle as well'

Yueli Ang, of the Chelmsford Bluebirds ladies' rugby team, is in her first year of refereeing

A female rugby referee said she has been "loving the experience" of overseeing games, as she backed a drive to recruit more women officials.

Yueli Ang started refereeing in February after her ladies' team in Chelmsford, Essex, struggled to find officials for games.

"I'd encourage anyone to give it a go," said Ms Ang.

Together with Amanda Arnold, also from the club, she recently attended a special event ahead of England v Japan.

Female match officials are welcomed on the pitch at Twickenham to promote the campaign to recruit more women referees

The pair were among 50 female match officials cheered on to the pitch by the 81,000-strong crowd before the match at Twickenham last month.

The group unfurled national flags as part of the RFU's Every Rose campaign to bring 500 new female referees into the game by the end of 2024 and address the chronic shortage across all leagues.

The RFU has said while there were 3,585 official referees, a "really low number of those" were female.

"It was such a great day - whenever I think about it, it puts a smile on my face," said Ms Ang.

Amanda Arnold was a latecomer to playing the game and has now taken up refereeing to spend as much time on the pitch as possible

Ms Arnold added: "It was a fantastic opportunity for us to get together and learn from experienced refs and find ways to publicise that women are really welcome."

The duo's shared passion for the game has boosted their ambition to recruit more women into officiating roles.

"People in rugby are just so welcoming - every club I've been to has been great," said Ms Ang.

"I've been loving the experience - learning something new. It's been really good."

Ms Ang played rugby as a university student

Ms Ang, 32, joined the Chelmsford Bluebirds after enjoying rugby at university during which time she played at Twickenham - although the stadium was empty on that occasion.

"Women players take up quite a big percentage of the players in the country, so there should be the same percentage of women picking up the whistle as well," she said.

Ms Arnold said the technical side of refereeing appealed to her as she works as an engineer

While Ms Arnold, 46, only started playing the game five years ago, she's a long-time fan of the sport.

For her, the journey into refereeing has been a way of prolonging her active love of rugby.

"I thought to stay on the pitch, if I start reffing now while I'm playing, I can build experience and also help games continue to make sure I can help other people play rugby," she said.

"I really, really enjoy it - I'm a bit of a geek - engineering is my day job - so I like the laws side of it and thinking about the technicalities, but also helping people play and getting a front row seat.

"There's a real shortage of referees - for the men's and the youth games as well - we need to make sure there are more people getting out on the pitch refereeing."