Should football mic up referees? Here's what we've learned from the Women's World Cup

There has been an intriguing new addition to the Women’s World Cup. Referees can now announce their decisions over their microphone to everyone inside the stadiums in Australia and New Zealand, as well as players and coaching staff from both sides. 

With VAR very much in demand so far during the tournament after a spate of early penalties, followed by divisive offside calls in recent games, we’ve already heard a fair few of the match officials selected for the tournament announcing the decisions that either they have made or VAR has advised on ever since the opening game of the tournament when New Zealand were awarded a late penalty against Norway. 

Generally, it has added something to the game as referees are now able to explain their decisions and what is happening to those inside the stadium, but there’s also an argument to suggest it hasn’t gone far enough. 

As an example, when England beat China, VAR had a long look at what appeared to be a fourth goal for the Lionesses when Lauren James curled home an effort from the edge of the box. 

But replays suggested Lucy Bronze may have been offside in the first phase of play, but onside in the second phase. Referee Casey Reibelt went to the monitor for a look and after several views of the same angle, announced to the stadium Bronze was the player offside, but went no further than that when it came to the various phases of play. 

In the second half, Bronze was in the thick of the VAR controversy again after a handball decision went against her and China were awarded a penalty. Again, Reibelt went to the monitor and announced a penalty for handball, before she was overhead telling Bronze “your arm was out”, although it’s unclear if the public were meant to hear that chunk of the discourse. 

Referees have been mic’d up as one-off experiments and in some sports you can hear generally everything the officials are saying, which has sparked debate it should be introduced into top-level football, particularly the Premier League where various VAR decisions have continued to cause controversy despite the technology being brought in to avoid such issues. 

It has endured the odd mishap given some of the language barriers that come with a major tournament. Korean referee Oh Hyeon-Jeong incorrectly announced a no goal rather than a no offside, before changing her mind to goal while Spain were comfortably ahead against Zambia, sparking a bit of confusion for those in the stands. 

Hearing the referees explain their decisions has at least offered a little bit of clarity to those inside the stadiums at least, but it feels like we may still need to some extra clarity on why these decisions are being made, rather than just hearing the outcome. 

More from the Women's World Cup

Is this the greatest women's football advert ever? Orange in France have delivered a stunning piece of filmmaking for the Women's World Cup 2023.

Alex Greenwood has told FFT that she believes the development in the Lionesses recently is more mentality-focused than ability-based, while Christine Sinclair has spoken of her longevity. Intriguingly, Canada women’s head coach comes from a small town in County Durham – just like the men's – and FFT met Bev Priestman ahead of the tournament.

You can download the wallchart for the tournament, too.