How Wollongong's Katie Patterson attracted international attention as a men's football referee

When Katie Patterson took to the field as the first women to officiate A-League players during a national knockout competition in a major football stadium she became a refereeing pioneer.

And while Ms Patterson admits she felt nervous in the lead up to that groundbreaking moment she recalled being determined to stamp her authority as a centre ground match official from the word go.

She did that by giving some of Australia’s best football players a good firm handshake before the game even started.

But it was not only her iconic heroes on the field she needed to contend with.

By going where no female referee had gone before many other factors surrounded that important 90 minutes in Australian sporting history.

Ms Patterson said that was because no one off the field really knew what to expect either. And while the pressure the former TIGS school captain put herself under took its toll immediately after that game.

Her courage and determination helped her break new ground internationally.

What she achieved that day in 2015 could eventually see female referees officiating men’s football at the top level in other parts of the world.

Her story is also one of juggling a corporate career with a passion for sport.

An office worker by day the Deloitte Australia Finance and Performance Management consulting manager combines finance and management with an active outdoor sporting life.

Ms Patterson developed her skills as a match official in the Westfield W-League and the Hyundai A-League. And her achievements have not come without a lot of hard work, training and commitment.

She recently told an Illawarra Women In Business lunch at the Lagoon Seafood Restaurant that being authentic in who you are and what you want to achieve is important. That is why she will never go out and referee the same way as the top males referees do.

“It is about really understanding what is the value that you have and then how you can use that to better your performance and create a role the is right for you,” she said.

“For me that means I talk to the players the whole time. I am always trying to proactively manage them. And I use a smile a lot. There is a lot of light and shade in the way that I operate. That has worked really well for me in a refereeing context but then I also apply that within my own work environment as well.”

Ms Patterson said courage and resilience was also important with both.

“For me that is not being put back by setbacks,” she said.

“There have been a number of ups and downs along the way, particularly given no-one had been down this path before”.

But overcoming every challenge on her journey has really served her well.

Ms Patterson said there were many with reservations about her officiating in a game involving the Melbourne Victory because many people did not know how to react and respond.

She admitted to being so nervous in the lead up to the sudden-death game that when she came off the field she burst into tears in the change room. “There was no reason for it but all this anxiety had built up inside me and I just needed to release it”.

Ms Patterson said we live in a world where what people are used to is what they expect. But when you start to do things they are not used to they become uncertain. That is why it it important to trust yourself and your ability to deliver. She said to do that your also have to trust your own potential.

She said opportunities came from always looking for ways to better yourself and by looking inwards..because you cannot control someone else’s perception of you.

“What you can do is build your own perception around who you want to be and work towards that rather than trying to control factors that you can’t influence,” she said.

Ms Patterson is already giving back from her experience by helping NSW identify ways it can better develop young referees. She said her lifestyle was not always easy but it has been very rewarding. At one stage she was working in New Zealand during the week and refereeing in Australia on weekends. She has managed by developing her own toolkit of things she can use to do all she does.

She said despite what some think a referee does not just turn up on the day. Many people ask her why she trains so hard and her answer is because she has to run 12 kilometres a game while making decisions the whole time and trying to manage players who are not always going to be happy.

She describes her journey to date as interesting. “It started when I was 14. It really ramped up once I hit university. And has continued as I have moved into my corporate career. We (referees) have quite high enrollment and engagement in the younger years (14 to 19) then it drops off quite dramatically”. Ms Patterson thinks that is because of the demands managing so many different aspects to life such as being a referee, a mum and having a career. “I have had to work very hard over the last few years to try and find that balance (between football refereeing and work). It is never an easy or smooth life. But..I have been very fortunate to have the experience I have had in being able to officiate A-League players”.

Ms Patterson’s achievements are considered significant because presently there was no real a pathway for women officiating in men’s football as a centre match official. She said by initially being encouraged to learn her craft in the women’s league she had been able to become more professional and improve her match fitness level. Since then her training has become more intense.

“In the last 12 to 18 months in particular Football Federation Australia has been quite forward thinking in terms of creating pathways for females to start to move into that space. So last year I was allowed the opportunity to referee in the FFA Cup which is the pre-season cup before the A-League kicks off,” she said.

Ms Patterson it was pretty cool standing next to big name players on the field. But they seemed much bigger in real life than they looked on TV.

“It was fantastic experience just to be out there,” she said.

“You could see the men kind of look at you. Particularly in A-League they are not used to seeing a female in the middle. When they were coming past they were looking at me and shaking my hand. Me being quite slight and little I thought yep I’ll make sure I give their hand a good squeeze. I gave them a really firm handshake to indicate what I was going to replicate out their on the field. It is always good to make a good first impression”.

Ms Patterson described it all as an amazing experience and an opportunity she will always be grateful for and never forget.

“It is interesting as a female being in that position and having that exposure. For me it wasn’t just an awesome opportunity that I get to referee a men’s game and an A-League team. There were all of these other external pressures as well,” she said.

Not only was she a centre ground official in  a knock-out competition in a large packed stadium. The game was being broadcast live on FOX Sports and followed a number of newspaper articles about her appearance as a female referee.

Looking back she admits to becoming increasingly nervous from all the anticipation, speculation and uncertainty she faced during the lead up.

“It was quite interesting managing the emotion that was attached to it,” she said.

“It was on a Tuesday as well. I had been at work all that day and trying to concentrate..be a good manager and meeting with clients. I had to leave by 4pm to get to the game and try and get in the zone and be ready.”

With so much hype and attention on her as a referee that day she said there was some really interesting photos and footage taken. And that taught her a lot about her style as a referee.

She said there were many photos of her with different expressions on her face in the media the following day. None of which she ever plans to use in a business context.

Managing player behaviour throughout the game is one of the important roles of a referee. And looking Ms Patterson thinks she must have done okay because since then she has had a number of opportunities to develop her profile as a referee of men’s games and improve her skills and capabilities.

Illawarra Women In Business reaction

When Ms Patterson shared her experience of being the first female football referee to take the field in a game with a men’s A-League team it inspired everyone present at an Illawarra Women In Business (IWIB) networking lunch.

The former TIGS student revealed how much respect she had earned since that first appearance.

And she spoke of how she was encouraged by the business owners present and two TIGS students who spoke.

She said Erryne Stone and Ruby Crandell inspired her by how they aspired to be something by taking all the experiences they were getting at school and incorporating that into planning their future.

She recalled how when she was at TIGS she was fortunate to be involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities such as public speaking, football and long distance running. And how balancing the commitments of study and sport back then had helped prepare her for what she is doing now.

“I had been doing these two things my who life so I didn’t really see it as something unusual or different and I probably didn’t appreciate, as much as I should have, the support I was getting at the time to do that as well as I could. It is not really until you leave that school environment and the comfort of home...that you think where did that support network go,” she said.

But when Ms Patterson moved to Sydney to start university after completing her HSC it was not long until she started to take on a bigger role in refereeing football while managing studies and then starting a corporate career. And it was not long until she set herself a goal of becoming a match official at the top level in men’s football.

To get where she worked hard to build her credentials as a referee and establish herself at Deloitte when she started there 18 months ago. Prior to that she was a consultant for other organisations in business transformation. She helped them improve performance, efficiency and effectiveness in the community. And did that by focusing on support services that could help deliver their core value propositions.

“I have been very fortunate this year to be involved in a...leaders program Deloitte has in place,” she said.

“Deloitte is very big on equal opportunity and supporting you to be everything that you can be within your own context..and within the corporate context. Success is different for everyone and that is something that is really important.”