REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM UNITED STATES SOCCER FEDERATION
44 | REFEREE October 2021
A stadium in Santa Rosa, Calif., had no women’s locker room that trailblazer Betty Ellis could use while officiating a men’s professional soccer match in 1981.
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by MICHAEL LEWIS efore flagging her first offside infraction in a pro soccer game four decades ago, Betty Ellis realized she shouldered a huge responsibility for women’s referees. On May 16, 1981, Ellis made history, becoming the first female to officiate a professional soccer game in the United States. She ran the line in the North American Soccer League (NASL) encounter between the host Portland Timbers and Calgary Boomers at Civic Stadium (now Providence Park). “I knew that I was opening a door,” Ellis said recently. “I thought of other women that I knew who were interested in reffing. I felt the responsibility on my shoulders
AP/SHUTTERSTOCK
FORTY YEARS AGO, BETTY ELLIS WAS THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO OFFICIATE A MEN’S PROFESSIONAL MATCH.
