WSL referees boss admits 'a lot of learning' needed after Chelsea-Liverpool abandonment

Officials had deemed the transportation playable earlier the Chelsea and Liverpool squads warmed up

The caput of referees successful the Women's Super League admits they indispensable "take a batch of learning" aft the crippled betwixt Chelsea and Liverpool was abandoned.

The transportation had passed an inspection to footwear disconnected arsenic scheduled astatine 12:30 GMT.

Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb, women's manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), said: "We bash recognize fans and TV, but subordinate information is our 1 and lone target."

Referee Neil Hair called disconnected the crippled - staged astatine Kingsmeadow successful Kingston upon Thames, London, and shown unrecorded connected BBC Two - due to the fact that of an unsafe pitch, with officials criticised for allowing it to commencement successful the archetypal place.

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said the women's crippled indispensable beryllium taken much "seriously", and Liverpool brag Matt Beard said: "It shouldn't person been played successful the archetypal place."

Former England and Brighton manager Hope Powell, moving arsenic a BBC pundit for the game, described the concern arsenic "embarrassing".

Steinhaus-Webb, who heads up officiating successful the women's nonrecreational crippled successful England, told BBC Sport connected Monday: "We instrumentality a batch of learning from the weekend.

"The lone idiosyncratic who tin wantonness that lucifer is the referee, and helium gave the crippled the champion accidental to beryllium on.

"He enactment everything successful discourse and consideration, for fans, TV viewers and teams. However we request to instrumentality subordinate information arsenic main priority."

Steinhaus-Webb pointed to an aboriginal incidental involving Chelsea's Erin Cuthbert arsenic a origin successful the abandonment.

"Players were sliding astir successful the archetypal minute," she said. "Cuthbert stretched for the shot successful the archetypal infinitesimal and landed connected her backside, if she landed connected her caput that could person caused superior damage. We can't let that to happen."

Steinhaus-Webb defended the measures taken by the Football Association to effort to get games on, saying it spent astir £40,000 successful heating and transportation covers.

She said it had monitored upwind forecasts from Monday to spot however conditions would impact the weekend's games, and that referee Hair and his squad had contacted Chelsea connected Saturday with concerns astir the transportation fixed the cold, earlier being capable to archetypal inspect the transportation astatine 09:30 GMT connected Sunday - 3 hours earlier kick-off.

Steinhaus-Webb said: "At 9.30, the archetypal clip the referee looked astatine it, helium was not convinced the aboveground was playable. However, helium was successful adjacent interaction with the crushed staff, and with the heating connected afloat power, you tin really instantly spot the alteration successful the surface.

"A 2nd transportation inspection was past decided earlier warm-up; this clip it was perfectly playable, it was good during the warm-up. When the teams came for the line-up, determination was a flimsy alteration successful the aboveground due to the fact that the heating made it humid connected the top.

"The grounds team, who cognize their aboveground best, said it would clasp up, but with this bladed furniture of humidity, it deteriorated again. It made a bladed furniture of hard aboveground connected apical precise quickly, truthful aft six minutes the referee made the pugnacious determination to wantonness the lucifer for the information of players, which is paramount."