There were 15 minutes left before kick-off at the university fixture at the Maiden Castle sports centre in Durham when Rebecca Welch, trying her hand at refereeing for the first time, was perplexed to see there was no sign of nets, corner flags or even any players. Eventually the teams turned up and – having never wanted to become a referee – she decided to persevere with it “just for a few more games” and see what happened. Fast forward 14 years and Welch found herself in floods of tears in a van in Marseille, heading towards the Stade Vélodrome for an Olympic semi-final between Brazil and Spain last month, because she knew that it was going to be the last match she took charge of after a trailblazing career at the elite end of the profession.

“I couldn’t speak to anybody because I was crying,” Welch says. “It was just the emotion. I thought: ‘This is me finishing and nobody knows.’ That was just for me to know but nobody else to know, and I quite like that because I don’t like the attention around it.”

Attention has certainly come Welch’s way, though, because of the landmark moments her career has delivered, not just for her but for all female referees. After working in the NHS’s business service authority, she became the first woman to take charge of a men’s EFL fixture, referee a men’s FA Cup third-round tie and then, last season, take charge of a Premier League game. She has chosen to retire and become the manager of the Select Group Women’s Professional Game, tasked with supporting the next generation of officials, but her name is forever in the history books.

“I remember getting the phone call and I’ve got no clue what was said on the phone because as soon as they said ‘Premier League game’, my mind went into overdrive,” Welch says of her appointment to referee Fulham against Burnley on 23 December, an early Christmas present. “I think it’s massive for football not just in England but right across the world, for young referees coming through, whether they’re male or female, to look and just see somebody different in the Premier League. Our girls coming through now know that’s achievable.

“The players were really good so I didn’t really have any major issues, which is what we want. On the train home I felt like I could have slept for about three weeks, just all the pressure had been building up and then it all just released. It was a fantastic experience but there was so much going on, when I try to remember the game sometimes it’s just a blank.”

That game was relatively forgettable but her career had already included unforgettable moments such as two Women’s FA Cup finals at Wembley and, after four years on the elite list of international officials for major tournaments, matches at the women’s Euros and World Cup. If Sarina Wiegman’s England hadn’t enjoyed so much success in recent years, preventing English officials from being chosen for finals, Welch might have been in charge of the World Cup final last year but she was immensely proud to referee May 2024’s Women’s Champions League final in Bilbao.

Discussing the timing of her retirement, she says: “I think for a lot of people it’s come as quite a shock, but certainly not for me because at the turn of this year it was in the back of my head. Being appointed to the Champions League final and then with the pinnacle of the Olympics, I wanted to go when I could still run fast, I wanted to finish on my terms and to finish at the top and I feel like I’ve done that.”

Welch says her parents have been her biggest supporters, along with her Maltese dog, Albert. Her dad – her “designated driver” to games – has been joking that he is now on furlough. Covid restrictions on spectators meant he missed Welch’s debut in the EFL, at Harrogate in 2021, but he has always been her best sounding board for analysing her performances. That family love has been invaluable because Welch admits “you can lose your weekend sometimes on one decision”. Welch says she doesn’t look at social media and wishes more coaches would take the opportunity to speak with referees after games before slamming their decisions in interviews.

“I’ve got no issue with managers coming and speaking to me about decisions I’ve made – in fact I would encourage it,” she says. “What’s more difficult to take is when managers choose not to take that opportunity to speak to you but then they will speak about you in other forums. Come and speak to me first and get an idea as to what I was thinking.

“Sometimes people don’t really appreciate that behind every referee there’s a story, there’s a job, there’s a family, and I think we need to highlight a little bit more that we are human beings – we’re not robots. If you cut us, we’ll bleed. The reason why we’re involved in the sport is because we love football.”

Welch knows it’s natural she has not got every decision correct, and brings up a moment from a goalless, top-of-the-table WSL draw between Chelsea and Arsenal at Kingsmeadow in February 2022, when the ball appeared to strike the Arsenal centre-back Leah Williamson’s arm deep into stoppage time but Welch did not give a penalty because she could not be 100% sure from her line of sight. “I’m of the mindset that it’s always better not to give something that’s happened than to give something that hasn’t happened.”

She is eager to pass her wisdom on to the next generation and says: “In 10 years time the WSL will look a lot different to what it does now.”

The Football Association – and the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited, after its takeover of the top women’s leagues – has come under pressure in recent years to fund full-time women’s referees and Welch feels the difference between them not being “full-time” and not being “professional” is often “lost in translation”. She says: “They’re 100% professional, they’re prepped, they attend camps. Yes, they’ve got other jobs but we don’t want to get mixed between full-time and professional. There’s a difference between the two.

“Will we get there eventually? In my opinion, it’s the biggest and best league in the world so we do need full-time officials eventually. Whatever decisions are made with funding and finance is probably going to be above our heads. I think we’re already in a really good place so hopefully in five years’ time we’ll be in an even better place.”