Sian gives big day a shake-up

SIAN MASSEY-ELLIS will make history today by becoming the first female match official to be involved in the FA Cup final.

Michael Oliver will be in charge at Wembley while highly-respected MasseyEllis (above) has been appointed as assistant VAR alongside Chris Kavanagh.

David Elleray, chair of the FA’s Referees’ Committee, said: “We’re delighted that Sian is again making history by being the first female match official to be involved in an FA Cup final, when she assists Chris Kavanagh in the video operation room – another important step for English refereeing.

“It promises to be an entertaining match and this will play to Michael’s strength, as he likes to remain in the background as much as possible and allow the game to flow as he believes that the game is about the players, not the referee.”

Massey-Ellis, 35, took up refereeing just before she was 14 – because she could not get up for a paper round!

She said: “I was too lazy to get up in the mornings and my dad suggested I take a refereeing course instead.

“I remember saying to my dad, ‘Can I do that?’. And I don’t know whether that was because I was a girl or because I was just young.

“I was really active as a child and my dad was a referee and ran a Sunday league club too so I was always involved in that environment – but his attitude towards me and football was always, ‘Of course you can’.

“If you think you might like something, you just need to try it out – that’s how I got involved in refereeing and now I’m addicted to it.”

The FA have invited special guests to Wembley who were nominated by the 737 clubs involved in the competition, including fundraisers for the third round tie between Marine and Tottenham.