View From The Field: Kerys Kicks (Kerys Harrop column)

Birmingham’s captain returns from more than two months out with an MCL injury and uses the column to press a case about officiating. She is careful to say she is not calling every WSL referee incompetent and acknowledges how hard split-second decisions are, but argues that blatantly bad calls – she names the penalty given against Katie Zelem in Manchester United’s game with Reading – raise a question about suitability for the level. Her proposal is simple: full-time referees, on the grounds that nobody would accept part-time officials in the men’s Premier League. She reports having spent 50 minutes with a researcher on an FA-funded study into the standard of WSL refereeing. On the pitch, Birmingham beat Sheffield United 3-0 in the FA Cup and travel to Sunderland next.