Glencoe (Hillsboro) beat
Hillsboro 35-0 on Friday in a game that saw the first all-female referee crew in Oregon high school football history. Mary Havrill, Cat Conti, Amy Pistone, Jeana Fisher, Kim Bly and Rebecca Brisson were teamed together as female officials continue to make inroads into traditionally male-dominated sports.
"I didn't really know as a kid that I could do that, so now it's that
whole 'if you see it, you can do it' kind of thing," Brisson said. "So
that's why we were like, 'Let's get out there, let's show our faces,
let's show other girls that they can do this.' "
The six women hope to officiate one more contest together this season and try to make it an annual occurrence moving forward.
Brinson, who has been a football official with the Portland Football Officials Association for 19 years, said "football is in my blood. I grew up the daughter of a football coach. ... I coach football, I officiated football games, my son plays football."
Sarah Thomas became the first woman to referee in the Super Bowl last
year when Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-9 win over the
Kansas City Chiefs.
On Sunday, Maia Chaka became the first black
woman to officiate an NFL game when she was a line judge for the
Panthers-Jets game.
The need for officials — of any gender — is perhaps greater than ever as the National Federation of State High School Associations has reported a decline in referee participation over the past decade, leading to a shortage in many places across the country.
Brinson told KGW8 that she hopes to inspire others, male of female, to get involved refereeing.
"Honestly, not just for recruiting women, but for the fact that if
there's noise out there about football officiating, guys are going to
come and do it as well, and that's just great," she said.
