The first female referee in SuperBowl history is 47 years old, a husband, three children, a dog, a university career as a pharmaceutical informant and Sarah Thomas’ bright smile. It is a historic turning point, another step towards equal rights, even in sport. She does not lack experience: this is her sixth season in the NFL.
In the challenge that keeps the whole of America glued to the TV (in 2020 SuperBowl peaked at 148.5 million viewers worldwide), Sarah Thomas will be part of the referee team as a down judge, that is the table official who is in charge of accurately positioning the chain that indicates the 10 yards to be gained to conquer a first down.
Before anything else, Sarah is a sportswoman, a lover of all disciplines since childhood, raised in Mississippi, in Pascagoula, a town known for being the center of media attention in 1973, when there was talk of an alien abduction right in those parts. A little alien, in a male and male sport like American football, Sarah certainly feels; even if in recent years she has always managed to stay out of controversy, showing her pulse and personality in her decisions.
His appointment comes just a few months after another debut, that of French Stephanie Frappart, the first female referee in the Champions League. Sarah Thomas, who lives in Brandon, Mississippi, tells herself this way: “I have always loved sport and I practiced it as long as I could; then the possibility of becoming a football referee opened up and I started with great enthusiasm ». Sarah played softball at a good level as a girl, and also joined a basketball team for a while. Before joining the NFL, the American Football league, he also refereed for years in the petanque championships.
The SuperBowl will be played on February 7 at Raymond Hames Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The teams that will compete for the title are yet to be discovered: the reigning champions of Kansas City will challenge the Buffalo Bills in the first Conference final; in the other, Green Bay will face Tampa Bay. The main referee of the match will be Carl Cheffers (who already directed the SuperBowl in 2017) and among the eight referees expected there is also an Italian American (Dino Paganelli), but the eyes will all be for her, Sarah Thomas, first female referee at one of the most watched sporting events on the planet.
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