Posted in: Football

NFL Welcomes First Female Referee For Preseason Game

Shannon Eastin First Female NFL Referee

Shannon Eastin is about to make history. With the NFL referee lockout still in progress Eastin will officiate the Green Bay Packers and San Diego Charges preseason game on Thursday night. Eastin at that time will become the first female NFL referee.

Eastin is an experienced referee who has served time in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and several high school and small-college leagues.

Replacement referees have become necessary as the league’s regular officials continue to argue over pay and other contractual issues. On Sunday replacement refs works the Hall of Fame game between the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals. The HOF game did not go as planned as an official accidentally awarded the coin toss to the wrong team and was forced 20 seconds later to reverse his original call.

League officials are currently meeting with representatives for the league’s officiating crew to come up with a long-term contract that will satisfy both sides.

NFL referee’s have been locked out of the league since June when their contracts officially expired and a new collective-bargaining agreement continued to elude them.

The last time an NFL referee labor dispute led to a meltdown was in 2001 when a dispute forced officials to miss the last exhibition game of the pre-season and the first regular-season game. Both sides in the 2001 dispute worked quickly to form a new contract once the regular season was under way.

Do you support female referee’s in the NFL? Do you think replacement officials will lose their jobs to league officials before the regular NFL season begins?

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8 Responses to “NFL Welcomes First Female Referee For Preseason Game”

  3. Erica Plenus

    women who are qualified to do any job a man has should go for it. I do think the greedy officials will be back though.

  5. Gilbert R Albright Jr

    And she'll be the first NFL Referee to make a Workman's Comp Claim after getting slammed or run over by an errant player.who doesn't see her because she is so small.

    And the camera men will be ordered not to show her bending over because it will be considered sexually suggestive.

    And the players will be told not to curse or use sexual language during the game to prevent her from filing a "hostile work environment" lawsuit.

    And if she is a single Mom, will we have some games short a referee because her baby sitter called in sick at the last minute?

    And then she'll file a lawsuit because the NFL won't allow her to wear earrings during a game but allows the players to do so.

    And then she'll file a lawsuit when she is pulled from games after she is found to be pregnant.

    And she'll claim the media is picking her because she is a woman after she misses a call in big game and gets criticized for it.

    And of course the the media will make a celebrity out of her and a millionaire with endorsement deals, magazine covers, book deals, a TV Movie, etc. and give her an undeserved amount of coverage, just like they are doing with that crummy race car driver Danica Patrick who has only won 2 races in 10 years. And quit after a couple years because she is now rich. All this while Men that have been NFL Referees for many, many years are ignored and have never gotten any offers from the media to make any extra money on the side.

    And be prepared for the predictable complaints and lawsuits about sexual harrassment.