The Middle Eastern part of the world, Africa and especially northern part of the African continent is known to impose strict measures when it comes to women participation in sports or some social gatherings. This is due to religious, cultural and social reasons.

Not until recently, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which has a long history for imposing harsh restrictions on women have began to lift some of the rigid restrictions one of which is the barring of women from going to stadiums to watch football matches as well as other sporting arenas.

The move by the Saudi leadership to meet up with other civilized measures introduced by other countries sparked up public outcry against the new policy which is aimed to allow women the freedom to move in and out of stadiums and other social events unrestricted which hitherto was out of bounds to them.

However, it is on record that even before countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran started to loosen up the knots on restrictions and confinements, there are other Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa that have graciously made allowance for their women to not just go watch football and other sports at the stadium, but also provided a level plain field for their women to play sports, travel abroad to participate in tournaments, appointed as sports officials and to officiate as referees.

One of the beneficiaries of the loosening up on the notes in the Middle East is Sara Samir, an Egyptian who has graced the rank of football officiating, making it right up to FIFA status. It was surprising for the footballers to see a female, clad in a referee gear coming right into the middle of the field as the center boss. It would have been an entirely different issue if she were to officiate an all female match considering that there are lots of female football teams in Egypt. But to officiate as the center referee in an all male football match, that was unheard of.

That was how the Egyptian youths found themselves unceremoniously introduced to having a female as the center referee, bossing and ordering them around, issuing warnings and threats of being sent off from the field of play. Although it was an U-17 youth division, it was Sara’s first and also the first for the youths as well as the spectators, it was still an uncommon experience for everyone present.

Sara who is 29 years old was a former footballer herself with personal experiences in and outside football field. No doubt this experience will be put to good use especially when players resort to their usual antics. She started about a decade ago as a lines-woman in men’s second and third divisions then subsequently graduated to refereeing in lower divisions and women’s world cup qualifiers few years ago. Her dream like every other ambitious referee out there, is to be assigned the role of a center referee in FIFA world cup matches any time in the future.

“We are a Middle Eastern society where men usually refrain from obscenities in the presence of women. For instance, in the fourth division, players usually hurl a barrage of insults but when I refereed some matches in that tier, I found nothing but respect," Sara Samir.

Despite that Sara was not clad in the traditional and religious head covering expected to be worn by most modest women common in such societies, she was received and treated with respect that is commendable. This further goes to amplifiers the fact that other societies which where hitherto known to be rigid have since embraced and moved on in tandem with happenings in other parts of the world.

I congratulate the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) who took the initiative by assigning Sara to officiate in an all men football match for the first time. This singular action by the EFA and the wide acceptance Sara got has gone further to encourage young girls to embrace sports. It also went further to encourage families which were previously averse to female involvements in sport, allow them to fully participate in sports of their choosing.

Thank you for stopping by, sincerely @izge.

Soccer / female officials

The first female Referee in an all Men Football Match.

The first female Referee in an all Men Football Match.

The first female Referee in an all Men Football Match.