{"id":17638,"date":"2024-01-30T05:39:27","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T10:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/sutton-united-appoint-transgender-former-referee-lucy-clark-as-manager\/30\/01\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-01-30T05:39:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T10:39:27","slug":"sutton-united-appoint-transgender-former-referee-lucy-clark-as-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/sutton-united-appoint-transgender-former-referee-lucy-clark-as-manager\/30\/01\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Sutton United appoint transgender former referee Lucy Clark as manager"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Lucy Clark has refereed in English women’s football for several years<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Back in the 1980s playing computer games, I would edit the teams to be Sutton United,” says Lucy Clark, the new manager of her childhood club’s women’s team.<\/span><\/p>\n

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“It’s amazing, kind of a dream come true.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Clark <\/span>was last week appointed<\/span>external-link<\/title><\/svg><\/span><\/a> as manager of the fifth-tier side, who are currently fighting relegation in the London & South East Regional Women’s Premier Division.<\/span><\/p>\n

While of great personal significance to Clark, the appointment is also noteworthy as it makes her the first transgender woman to be appointed as a manager in the top five divisions of English women’s football.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clark, 51, previously made headlines as <\/span>football’s first transgender referee,<\/span><\/a> having officiated as high as the third tier of women’s football.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Clark, who is currently training for her Uefa B coaching licence, has now returned to her first love of management, having coached her first team at the age of 16 and previously managed in men’s non-league football in Essex.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The plan was just to do some refereeing to have a look at players before I got back into managing, but obviously the refereeing went well and I had some fabulous times,” she told BBC Sport.<\/span><\/p>\n

“And I think that has helped, I have refereed in the women’s game for many years so I have seen many clubs and how they do things, now I am taking this position on at Sutton.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I set up TRUK [a trans-inclusive amateur football team], which got me back in the dressing room as a manager, and made me think it was time. I got the bug of being a manager again.<\/span><\/p>\n

“When the Sutton job came up I took a week to think, but I thought, this is just perfect. I put my application in, and thankfully I have been successful.”<\/span><\/p>\n

‘There’s nothing people can say that I haven’t already heard as a referee’<\/h3>\n

Clark returns to management at a time when the place of transgender women in women’s football has come under intense scrutiny.<\/span><\/p>\n

A group of 48 MPs and 27 peers recently signed a letter<\/span><\/a> urging the Football Association to change its rules on transgender inclusion to “protect women and girls”.<\/span><\/p>\n

However that is focused more on players. In the dugout, greater diversity of gender is common across women’s football.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clark says she has overwhelmingly received support following her appointment, including messages of congratulations from officials of other teams in Sutton’s division.<\/span><\/p>\n