Molly is making waves at Dalziel First female referee for Motherwell club
Dalziel RFC are currently supporting their first female referee trainee, Molly Cuthbert.
Sixteen-year-old Molly has been training to be a referee for the last 12 months and has progressed such that she has been tasked with refereeing senior men’s games during pre-season.
Molly, a fifth year pupil at Our Lady’s High School in Motherwell, got into rugby two years ago when her stepdad David, a player at Dalziel RFC, began coaching her brother’s youth team.
Her love of the game progressed to assisting with the under-15s age group and attending training three times a week - more times than the senior squad.
Molly said: “I never had an interest in the sport to begin with, but after going to training and seeing what happened, I wanted to learn more and get more involved.
“Because I’m younger and smaller than most coaches and parents, they presume I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Molly has been given a referee’s kit by the West of Scotland Referees’ Society to help her on her way.
Dalziel RFC have since donated the cost of Molly’s kit, as well as that for Daniel Bartlett, another young up and coming referee from Dalziel.
Davie Jamieson, Dalziel’s referee co-ordinator said: “Molly has been progressing well and I was very pleased with her performance in the Lanarkshire Cup, where she was refereeing grown men over twice her size.
“Dalziel have a proud tradition of producing referees and it is great to see this move into the female game.”
Molly is following in the footsteps of such Dalziel members as George Barr, John McKenzie, Dougie Muir, Gus Tweedale and Paul Warnock in representing the club as referees.
Dalziel RFC President Les Barclay added: “I have been really impressed how Molly has stepped into refereeing. She has a natural talent that belies her age.
“I have watched her refereeing all ages and is a confident and very capable referee. The West of Scotland rugby referee academy is a great way of introducing young referee talent into rugby.”
Meanwhile, on the pitch the first XV were beaten by Orkney 52-7 with Lewis MacSween scoring Dalziel’s only try.
The second XV were away to Carrick and were beaten 15- 10 whilst the third XV ran out 52-0 winners over Kilmarnock.
Next weekend, the first and second XVs host Haddington and GHA respectively, while the Third XV are away to Annan. The Under18s host East Kilbride.