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Women in Football are calling on the FA to offer support to victims of identity theft, after referee Lucy Oliver, who officiated at the Women’s FA Cup Final in May, suffered two years of online harassment when a fellow referee set up a fake Tinder account in her name so he could flirt with men. 

The reputation of Lucy, who is married to Premier League referee Michael Oliver, currently officiating at the Euros, has been under severe pressure from the fake Tinder as well as Facebook account, but she was astonished when police finally caught the identity thief - a referee who she had worked with in several matches and had been her student when she worked at South Downs College near Portsmouth. 

Connor Mayes was given a conditional caution by police in December and last month an independent FA regulatory commission found him guilty of improper conduct and banned him from refereeing and all football until January 2019. 

But Mayes, who referees for Hampshire County FA, was only finally caught after he went on to steal the identities of Lucy's referee colleagues Amy Robinson and Paula Wyatt and also set up Tinder and Facebook accounts in their names to maliciously pose as a woman. This resulted in many users of social media mistakenly believing that Lucy, Amy and Paula were acting flirtatiously and this led to unwanted comments and unsolicited approaches while the women were refereeing and socialising.  

All three women have been left badly affected by the online harassment and as Amy and Lucy work in education, safeguarding teams had to liaise with police to ensure no contact had been made by students with the fake accounts. 

But despite the police offering victim support there has been nothing forthcoming from the FA since the guilty verdict. A spokesperson for Women in Football said: "Lucy, Amy and Paula have been through hell, with their reputations tarnished and their confidence shattered. Mr Mayes can return to football in three years as if nothing has happened but the women need FA sponsored counselling now to help them recover from this traumatic online abuse and to ensure that they can continue as highly successful referees. 

"The fact that Mr Mayes worked with all three referees and then betrayed them in this way illustrates a shocking disregard for the standards of trust and integrity that must be paramount when working together as a team officiating at a football match"

Lucy's trauma has been compounded by the fact that as she tried to discover who had set up the fake Tinder and Facebook accounts, Northumberland County FA vice president John Cummings used highly discriminatory language towards her when Lucy offered to referee in his Sunday League. The FA suspended Cummings for four months after he told Lucy that "a woman's place is in the kitchen and not on a football field" and that: "It's nothing against you personally but all the time I'm alive, a woman will never referee in my league" 

Women in Football added: "We applaud the courage and determination shown by Lucy Oliver which enabled her to continue with her refereeing career in the face of such adversity and we are delighted that she officiated at the Women's FA Cup Final in May. County FA's must be encouraged to work harder to educate their workforce to protect women like Lucy, Amy and Paula. The National Game recently turned their backs on reforms suggested by outgoing chairman Greg Dyke which would have done much to eradicate this culture of sexism in football. Now County FAs must protect the women who have so much to offer our national game"   

ENDS                                                                                         

NB: FA Verdict Details: 

Connor Mayes, Referee, Hampshire FA

Breach of FA Rule E3(1) – it is alleged that Connor Mayes' course of conduct, between August 2015 and October 2015, amounts to improper conduct

Charge admitted, non-personal hearing requested

Mayes was immediately suspended from all football and all football related activity until 1 January 2019 and fined £200

Read more here

 

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