Page 15 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.31 2022-23

The FA can confirm the 2023 Vitality Women’s FA Cup match officials who will oversee this year’s
Final, while also confirming that VAR will be used for the very first time in the competition.
Suffolk-based official Emily Heaslip will lead a team including assistant referees Georgia Ball
and Chloe-Ann Small, with Abigail Byrne as fourth official and Sophie Dennington as reserve
assistant referee.
The match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium connected by EE
will also see a VAR in place for the first time in the Final, with Michael Salisbury supported by
assistant Sian Massey-Ellis. Goal Line Technology will also be in use at Wembley.
The full match official line-up is as follows:
● Referee: Emily Heaslip (Suffolk FA)
● Assistant Referees: Georgia Ball (Derbyshire FA) and Chloe-Ann Small (Hampshire FA)
● Fourth official: Abigail Byrne (Cambridgeshire FA)
● Reserve Assistant Referee: Sophie Dennington (Berks & Bucks FA)
● VAR: Michael Salisbury (Lancashire FA)
● AVAR: Sian Massey-Ellis (Birmingham FA)
Heaslip, who referees in the Barclays Women’s Super League, said: “I’m honoured to be
appointed as the referee for the Vitality FA Women’s Cup Final.
“It’s a dream of every player to walk out at Wembley Stadium, and that’s the same for every
match official. We’ll be determined to repay the trust put in us by The FA and the PGMOL to
officiate at this stage of one of the biggest club competitions in football.”
Select Group Women’s Professional Game director Bibi SteinhausWebb added: “The FA Cup
is a special competition and I’d like to offer my congratulations to those who have been appointed
to officiate the Final.
“As part of the continued development of our officials, we have been preparing for the
introduction of technology in this season’s Vitality FA Women’s Cup Final for a sustained period
of time.
“Anything that can aid our match officials in their decision making has to be welcomed,
especially given how the game continues to evolve and produce more complex situations which
need to be judged on a match-by-match basis.”

Tel: (0117) 9694544 Julian Barker
E-Mail: news@womenssoccerscene.co.uk Will Cheshire
Website: Colin Poultney (CollargeImages.co.uk)
www.WomensSoccerScene.co.uk GrifftersWorld Photography
Twitter:
@wssmagnews Winners of the 2006
FA National Media Award
Editors:
Neil Brown Views expressed in articles in this magazine
Mark Brown are those of the subject and not necessarily
those of Women’s Soccer Scene and its staff.
Contributors:
James Prickett (www.jamesprickett.co.uk) Issue no. 870
Patrick Higgins
Front cover photo: Ascot United captain Sarah Davern pursued by her Eastleigh counterpart
Chelsea Bates during the Southern Region League Cup Final (www.jamesprickett.co.uk).
news@womenssoccerscene.co.uk