Stephen Wade
Associated Press Sports Writer
Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan, one of three women selected as the men’s referee
World Cup football, warming up in a training session near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Xingzi)
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese referee Yoshimi Yamashita agrees with Pele or anyone who first described football as a “beautiful game” decades ago.
Yamashita is one of three women selected by FIFA to referee the Men’s World Cup in Qatar, which kicks off on November 21. This is the first time a woman has been a referee on football’s biggest stage.
This is how she sees her work: making games shine, as it should be.
“One of the goals of being a referee is to show the appeal of football,” she said in a recent interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo. “I did my best for this and I would do what I was supposed to be doing for it. So if I need to communicate with a player, I will do it. If I need to show a card, I will show it. I’m not in Control, but thinking about how to achieve the big goal of making football attractive.”
Stephanie Frappart of France and Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda are the other women selected. There are 36 referees in total. FIFA also appointed 69 female assistant referees: Neuza Back in Brazil, Karen Diaz Medina in Mexico and Kathryn Nesbitt in the United States.
While it’s likely that all three will be in charge of the game, that’s not a given. They will also be used as so-called “fourth referees” on the sidelines. However, they cannot be used as helpers.
In a statement, FIFA refereeing director Massimo Busacca said: “In the coming months, every match official will be carefully monitored and technical, physical and medical checks will be made shortly before the World Cup. make a final assessment.”
Yamashita’s selection focused on Japan’s low ranking in most indicators of equal pay for women, as well as in research on global gender equality.
Only 14.3 percent of seats in Japan’s national legislature are held by women — 152 out of 190 countries in a study published a few months ago by the Congressional Research Service. Another study on the gender pay gap ranked Japan 120th out of 156 countries.
“I would be very happy if women could play an active role in sports in this way, and if sports, especially football, could lead this trend,” Yamashita said. “The world of football (regarding women’s participation) has a long way to go in Japan, so it would be great if this could promote women’s participation in a different way, not just in football or sports.”
Women’s football has always been at the forefront in Japan. Japan’s women’s soccer team won the 2011 Women’s World Cup, finished runner-up in 2015, and has consistently ranked among the competition’s elite teams.
Yamashita did a workout outside Tokyo last month, and the temperature reached 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). She laughed when she was reminded that the match would be cooler in Qatar, on the tip of the Arabian peninsula, due to the winter in the northern hemisphere and air-conditioned stadiums.
Yamashita seemed relaxed during the interview, free from apparent stress. She has served as a referee for the Japanese Men’s J-League and was in charge of the Men’s Champions League in Asia. She also handled competition during last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
“Of course, I think it’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “I think I have a lot of responsibility. But I’m really happy with that responsibility and the pressure, so I try to embrace it positively, and I try to make myself happy.”
She described the excitement of leaving the waiting room before the game.
“I think that moment cheered me up. I think that was when I changed gears the most,” she said.
The difference between the men’s and women’s races, of course, is speed, she said. But it’s not just some men who might run faster.
“It’s the speed, but it’s not just the player’s speed,” she said. “It’s not ball speed. It’s just game speed. That means to me I have to make quicker decisions – quicker.”
Yamashita conducted most of the interviews in Japanese, but said she uses English and “facial gestures, body gestures” when communicating with players in Qatar.
“Usually when I give a card, I don’t say anything,” she said, turning to English. “But when I gave the warning, I just told them I wasn’t happy. They got it.”
