The referees will not whistle in the F League "due to the current labor and economic uncertainty" of their situation

MADRID, 8 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The collegiate and assistant referees showed this Thursday, less than two days before the start of the season, their "unanimous" refusal to whistle matches of the new League F, the First Division of women's soccer that debuts its professional status, as a protest for "the current conditions of lack of definition" of their "labour and economic" situation.

"The referees and assistant referees of the Women's First Division wish to communicate our unanimous decision not to direct any match of the First Division National Championship in the current conditions of uncertainty of our employment and economic situation," the collegiate members said in a statement provided by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

According to the referees and assistants, given "the context of a new professional competition", they consider that "female refereeing must have minimum conditions" to be able to carry out their work. "It is not conceivable that the arbitration establishment is the only one that is left out of a growth that we consider as fair as necessary," they added.

"As referees we want to provide the best possible service to football and that necessarily happens by having minimum working conditions similar to those of the refereeing establishment of the men's professional competition," the referees stressed.

And to achieve this, they make it clear that they must have "comparable working conditions" that allow them to "devote the essential time required to be in a professional competition." "We are looking forward to stepping on the playing fields again, but with the right conditions," they sentenced.