A referee coach has denied “manhandling” Women’s Super League referee Lisa Benn after she told an employment tribunal that he “forcefully pushed” her during a match.
Benn, 34, claims she was pushed and threatened by Steve Child during a tournament organised by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) to train staff on video assistant referees (VAR) in March 2023.
English football’s refereeing body investigated the complaint but found Child’s behaviour did not meet the threshold for disciplinary action.
In his tribunal witness statement, quoted to the panel on Wednesday, Child said “100% I did not grab” her, it was a “guiding arm if anything” but “I don’t recall putting any physical contact on her”.
“I lightly put an arm across her back in a sense of ‘let’s go’,” the former Premier League assistant referee added.
Child refuted Benn’s accusation that his treatment of her was “because she is a woman”.
Kick-off had been delayed by an earlier injury and a south London employment tribunal heard Child was trying to speed up the start of play.
He denied grabbing Benn a second time and saying “your card has been marked” after a mass brawl broke out at the end of the fractious youth game.
Carla Fischer, for Benn, said: “A six-foot man who is stressed, who has been told by the claimant to chill, physically moving a five-foot woman on to a pitch.”
She added: “There is absolutely no way this contact could be anything other than grabbing and manhandling, is there?”
Child replied: “That’s not correct.”
He also denied intimidating Benn in the hotel reception at a training camp they both attended on 19 August, 2023, saying: “I think that might be a confusion on Lisa’s part.”
Benn claims she unfairly lost her position as a Fifa international referee because she complained about his behaviour to PGMOL.
She alleged she had been told by the organisation’s chief refereeing officer, Howard Webb, and his wife Bibi Steinhaus-Webb – then the head of women’s referees – she would not be punished for coming forward.
“There is a fear in the women’s group to raise grievances, to raise concerns, because of the fear of consequences,” Benn told the hearing on Tuesday.
The tribunal continues.