With Dr. Jen Welter no longer an official NFL employee, it is only right to spotlight another pioneer in the NFL. Sarah Thomas became the first female NFL referee ever, making her debut a few short months before Welter. When the regular season finally kicks off in a few days, Thomas will become the first full-time female official in the NFL during the regular season.
The NFL is not the first place that Thomas has become a pioneer in, however. Much like Welter, Thomas has been making history for quite a bit of time. She became the first female to officiate a bowl game in 2009 and the first at a Big Ten stadium in 2011. Thomas represents something different than Welter. Thomas is actually watching the guys and is able to give her opinion in an area that has always been completely male dominated.
One important thing that Thomas also stands for is that she wants to be treated like every other official. When Thomas was first a referee for the Conference USA, she was given a lot of advice during the process. Most of the advice came from Gerry Austin who is retired NFL official and is now the “the supervisor of Conference USA’s officials.” Austin advised Thomas to wear her hair up under her hat which Thomas was already starting to do, but Austin also advised Thomas to not wear any makeup. That was where Thomas finally stood up, “I told him he was crossing the line there…” which is one thing that usually happens to females in sports. They are forced to become defeminized or hyper-feminized to be taken seriously, but Thomas rejected both stereotypes.
Since Thomas’ arrival in the NFL, she has been assigned to a crew. Pete Morelli’s crew, to be exact and Thomas has already gotten a few chances to start in preseason games. Two of her biggest appearances was officiating a Arizona Cardinals game and a Houston Texans game. When Thomas officiated with the Cards, she met coach Jen Welter and a historic moment was captured.
That picture shows both Welter and Thomas, but it shows exactly how rare this opportunity is and how important it is. When she officiated for the Texans, she was featured on an episode of Hard Knocks and besides the fact that Bill O’Brien talked to her a little bit and introduced himself, she was treated exactly like any of the other referees. Also not to mention the fact that Thomas actually ran over to break up a fight between the Texans and the Saints during that game too.
On the field, Thomas looks exactly like the rest of the referee and has not received any special treatment. Thomas is walking into a job where she gets yelled at on a regular basis and that’s why she’s so important. She’s signed onto a job that some would dread and some would love, but she knows what the consequences will be and what could, eventually will, happen to her. She is walking into a man’s world and breaking down the barriers of who can be a referee.
