The world’s first female professional rugby union referee on the hidden battles she still has to fight and the possibility of officiating in the Six Nations
Anyone who has ever tried to be a trailblazer in women’s sport will identify with Sara Cox’s inch-perfect analogy. “It’s like walking through a patch of stinging nettles,” suggests the world’s first female professional referee. “If you’re the first one to do it, you’re going to get stung. If you’re the next person behind me, I’ve already created the path for you. You just need to walk.”
Even in supposedly enlightened 2022 it is already clear that professional rugby is not yet a totally level playing field and, as Cox puts it, “there’s always going to be a little bit of friction”.
