As the Female Football Week Awards continue, Football Queensland is delighted to announce Taylah Scholefield as the Female Referee of the Year.
Currently in her 13th year as a match official, Scholefield has also taken on the role of referee coach, mentor and assessor in recent years and has been committed to giving back to the game by supporting the development of other female referees across the state.
Growing up playing football in Dalby before picking up the whistle, Scholefield followed in the footsteps of her grandfather who was heavily involved in the local refereeing community.
She later moved to Brisbane where she has become a familiar face across fixtures in the NPL Women’s competition.
“Refereeing for me has a really deep place in my heart,” she said.
“It has been in my blood from day dot, whether I knew it or not. It’s something I’m very passionate about.”
In the early stages of her career as a young referee in regional Queensland, first in Dalby and later in Mackay, Scholefield noticed the absence of female match officials to look up to.
This reinforced her passion for supporting the development of up-and-coming female referees both in metro and regional parts of the state, with Scholefield first turning her focus to coaching and mentoring a number of years ago.
“I did one of the tournaments as a coach and kind of just fell in love with passing my knowledge on to the next generation. And it just went from there.”
Having progressed to the highest level of officiating in Queensland competitions, Scholefield’s experiences as a female referee and the challenges she’s encountered along the way have reaffirmed her commitment to helping the next generation.
“I look at the challenges that I faced as a female referee coming through the ranks and it was hard, and it still is hard, so being able to help and provide guidance, especially to those young female referees coming through, was just something that hit home for me.”
Reflecting on the advice she’d offer to aspiring young female referees now, Scholefield noted the significance of having increased visibility of female match officials in the top tiers of the game to demonstrate the pathway for emerging young referees.
“One thing I’d say is, you can get help – there are people that do want to help you and two, there are avenues that can take you places. I’d never really watched the W-League so never really knew that there were the Caseys [Reibelt] and the Kates [Jacewicz], I never knew that they were referees on a national stage,” she said.
“But the biggest thing I’d take away is to be patient; be patient, take everything on board and be a sponge. The smallest piece of information can change your game.
“So just be patient and work hard and the opportunities will come.
“The other big thing is, you need to enjoy it. You have to enjoy what you’re doing.”
Scholefield was surprised to learn of her nomination for the Female Referee of the Year Award but reiterated the importance of giving back to the game where possible.
“It’s a bit of a privilege, and I think it’s pretty cool that we now have the ability to acknowledge the people that work hard and the people that give back to the game,” she said.
“Without people giving back to the game, the game can’t grow. That’s probably the biggest thing.”
The remaining Female Football Week award recipients will be announced in the coming days as Football Queensland continues to acknowledge the contributions of individuals and clubs across the women’s game.
