Howard Webb denies claim elite match official was demoted after complaining that a male coach 'manhandled' her

Earlier this week, Benn told an employment tribunal in London that Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) coach Steve Child "forcefully pushed her" back in March 2023 during a training tournament organised by the body. During the game in question, which was used to train staff on VAR, she alleges that Child instructed a fourth official to "kill the game", to which she replied, "Don't tell me how to referee" and directed an expletive at him. 

She told the tribunal on Monday: "I am a trusted referee, I referee at the highest level - this was an under-19s game. He felt superior, he felt like he could come on and tell me how to referee, he manhandled me onto the field of play - he would never have done that to a male referee."

When asked if she had seen Child act that way with other referees, she replied: "I have to female referees, yes. I haven't to male referees."

PGMOL reportedly investigated the complaint but found Child's behaviour did not meet the threshold for disciplinary action. She added that after when she raised the complaint, PGMOL did not recommend her as highly as in the past, and that cost her a place on FIFA's international referee list. 

On Wednesday, Child said in his tribunal witness statement, via BBC Sport: "100 per cent I did not grab her," it was a "guiding arm if anything," but "I don't recall putting any physical contact on her". The former Premier League referee added that he put an arm across her back in a sense of "let's go". Child also refuted Benn's claim that his treatment of her was because she was a woman. 

He also denied intimidating Benn in the hotel reception at a training camp they attended in August 2023, saying: "I think that might be a confusion on Lisa's part."

Moreover, Child insisted it was not true that he grabbed Benn a second time and said: "Your card has been marked," after a mass brawl broke out at the end of a youth game. 

After this incident, the tribunal heard that Benn dropped from fifth to sixth on FIFA's international officials list, with the governing body only accepting the top five officials on their women's game list. However, the panel was told the PGMOL had asked for them to take on a sixth for that season. 

Webb said at the hearing that Benn received a lower ranking because she was outperformed by others. 

"It was our honestly held belief that she would be accepted," said Webb. This was because the growth of the women's game and the "noises we were hearing" from sports bodies. 

The ex-Premier League referee added: "Unfortunately, highly regrettably, it wasn't, but unfortunately, compared to the other officials in this ranking, she was correctly placed sixth, based on the performance factors listed and the holistic view we've gone through. This is a competitive world in which we work and we need to rank officials against each other. We produce a lot of other really good officials in this country and we are in the difficult task to have to rank them against each other."

Before the tribunal finished for the day, Webb stressed the importance of officials airing their complaints. 

He said: "Of course, we want to know what is on the minds of our officials and for them to speak to us openly and confidently. We want our officials out on the field and performing.

"They treasure this badge, they really, really do. We had a view that a sixth position was really, really quite likely. I think the growth of the women's game is pretty incredible, and we think it's important to serve the demand."

The hearing will return on Friday.