In 2018, when Robinson first joined Football South, there were 35 referees registered to the federation, two of which were female.  

12 months on and the Blyth, Northumberland born referee has almost doubled that number to 68, with now seven of them being female.  

The success through the system offered to the referees has shown a good retention of numbers. After completing their course, Robinson gets each referee to do three games before being officially signed off with their badge.  

Through this, the referees have to self-evaluate their performances in which Robinson is confident that this helps the referees become more comfortable and confident quickly and in turn helps improve the quality at which they referee.  

Referees are offered a lot of one-on-one or small group contact time which has been another effective part of a system of increasing the number of referees. 

“It’s about safety, being proactive, getting the right decisions and reducing error and that is what I keep reminding referees and clubs. 

We have some good personalities out there and all singing from the same hymn sheet in that we all enjoy the game and want it to go well,” Robinson added.  

Having refereed the Women’s FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea back in May 2018, Lindsey moved to New Zealand not too long after.  

While visiting her partner who had recently got a job in New Zealand, Robinson saw the RDO role advertised on Twitter and thought ‘I will apply?’ and ended up being successful in her job application! 

I try and treat every game like a cup final because it’s a right of respect to the players,” Robinson explained when talking about how she presents herself as a referee.  

When asked what Robinson would like to do, what goals she has set herself she said: “I would love to continue to help refereeing grow, educating clubs on how we want things done professionally, make everything more inclusive for all types of people. We are a refereeing family and we’d love more people to be a part of that.” 

For more information on refereeing and possible courses, feel free to contact Lindsey at 022 372 7703 or email her at lindsey@footballsouth.co.nz.  

Article added: Monday 12 August 2019