Capital Football history was made on Sunday afternoon at the NPL1 game between Canberra Croatia FC and Tuggeranong United FC, with referee Georgia Ghirardello and assistant referees Lauren Hargrave and Delfina Dimoski becoming the first all-female referee team to officiate a Capital Football NPL1 Men’s match.
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Georgia Ghirardello has 13 years of referee experience, having spent two seasons in the W-League as an assistant referee before stepping into the middle for the first time during the 2019/20 season.
“Lauren, Del and I are examples of what can happen when girls from grassroots football are supported and nurtured by the community around them,” Ghirardello said. “I’m lucky to be on the pitch with two of the best referees in Canberra.
“I see them training hard week in week out, putting in the hours, so when moments like this happen, it feels deserving and that we have been recognised.”
Ghirardello said having female referee role models like Allyson Flynn and Nia Southwell had proved inspirational to the trio.
“We are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us,” she added. “This is a first of many more games where you’ll see a full female referee team on the NPL1.”
Lauren Hargrave, who made her W-League officiating debut in 2016, was involved in a similar historical moment in Tasmania last year. She was the central referee in the first all-female refereeing team for the NPL TAS Men’s competition at that time.
Hargrave said the appointment was a reflection of the strength of female referees in the ACT.
“If I reflect back 10 years, I genuinely would have never contemplated all-female refereeing teams in men’s NPL,” Hargrave said.
“I am excited to see regular all-female refereeing teams in men’s NPL1 matches as well as what other boundaries in sport can be broken.”
Delfina Dimoski, an assistant referee in the W-League for the past eight seasons, was awarded NPL Women’s and NPL Men’s Referee of the Year in 2019.
“I feel privileged to be part of this trio,” Dimoski said. “I feel that each of us in our own right is an accomplished match official but this allows it to be showcased as a complete package.
“I always come back to ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ – so the three of us together on this game will give local female match officials something to aspire to.”
Conclusions can be drawn on the strength of the referee pathway system in Canberra based on this achievement, which hopefully provides further inspiration to women and girls everywhere to follow a similar road should their football muse lead them this way.
