Interview with football referee Michaela Backlund

Michaela Backlund is an experienced referee and has been refereeing since she was a teenager. She was close to not starting refereeing, due to a coach who did not behave well at all towards her as a young and new referee. She, in turn, has another coach and a referee to thank, because she started refereeing and continued, when she got backed up by them. Read the full interview below with Michaela who has refereed senior football since 2006.

– Hi Michaela. How are you and how is the winter form?

– It's good, I've had a little rest but have slowly started training again. This summer I had various injuries and pretty many matches lst autumn. Now it feels good and it feels like I can get in shape properly for spring again. I don't referee Futsal now in the winter, here in northern Sweden and Östersund there is no Futsal at all yet, but the association here has started a small investment to possibly start it. Right now I'm changing jobs so we'll have to look ahead and especially with the winter there how I think about football, but maybe Futsal is something I can think of in the future. Many referees talk a lot about it and precisely combining the indoor season with the outdoor season. But it's nice to get some desire for football back in the spring, so resting in the winter suits me quite well right now.


– Last season in Sweden is over and the pre-season has begun, for the season 2023. Apart from injuries that you had, can you tell us a little about the year 2022 for you as a referee?

– I have had a good spring season with good matches and some travel. It's pretty much always travel for me as a referee. Here at home, in Östersund, I have refereed men's divisions more than I have had to do before. Earlier in the year, we had a report in the newspaper where we were the first women's team in the men's division 4, here at home. It was fun and it was a good match. I refereed in the middle and had two really good girls with me as assistants. I think the year has produced good and fun matches, but above all with good refereeing teams. That's what's fun about being a referee, you never really know who you'll meet when you go a little further. Sometimes you can run into someone you have been refereed with before, but for me it feels like I mostly meet new people all the time. I think that's fun!


– You talk a lot about travel. Which divisions do you referee the most?

– For me, it's mostly the first division, the women's division, then I also go as an assistant in the elite division, and both of those divisions for me involve some travel. Then I also join men's matches as an assistant, but not as often. We are few female referees and then there will be more focus on women for my part. Then I travel quite a bit because I live in Norrland and have at least 2-3 hours to my matches. Have a few games here at home in Östersund.


– Do you remember how you started your journey as a referee?

– Yes I do. I started refereeing when I was 16, I think in 2005, as a district referee. The year before that, my mom thought I needed to start earning some money of my own, when I started high school. I was still playing football then, but I signed up for what was then called the "ÖP Liret" here in Östersund. I refereed one year there and it really could have been my first and last year as a referee. I refereed a cup where there was a coach who was not very nice, but received very good support and help from someone who coached ÖFK, Östersund, who at the time played in the men's second division I think. He, Peter Makin, was and is a family friend of ours. Peter and a female referee who was there refereeing also helped me against this coach who was over 2 meters tall and I was 1.60 tall. I took the situation myself and remember saying something along the lines of "everything you tell me, it's the shirt that takes, it's pouring off of me". And then when I left, Peter came and said to me "Don't think about that, you're right, stand your ground and we're here for you". So yeah, thanks to the female referee and Peter for giving me support and wanting me to keep refereeing after that. When I had been refereeing for about a year, someone from the association contacted me and asked if I wanted to continue as a district referee, and that's the way it is. Then I had several years of studies when I refereed, but school came first as it was tough and a lot at school. I also lived in Norway and as I said a few injuries and other things.


– It was 2005. Almost 18 years have passed since then. What makes you continued as a referee?

– I think it's fun. The social aspect of being a referee is important and fun for me. Then I feel now, maybe for the last 5 years, I feel comfortable in my role as a referee. When you were younger, you might have taken on more as a person and you might have focused on things that went wrong in the matches more than the overall picture. Now I feel very secure in the role of referee. Of course, things happen and we make mistakes all the time, but you have to take those things with you and do things differently next time. I've had many years when I thought "no damn, next year I'll quit", but then when the season comes, you stand there and feel how your body crawls and I want to go back to the field and referee football. I like my trips too, the longer trips. Maybe i'm a bit crazy, haha. I do not know. I have also followed many teams and their development and it is fun to follow the teams and the players' development.


– Do you think it's nice to have the mix and referee both men's and women's football?

– Yes, I think it's nice. I referee probably very similarly as a referee, but I can clearly say that I get a little tougher in men's football. I think it's because when I, as a female referee, come to a men's match, I already have the match against me a little, even before it starts. Then you have to work a little bit extra. I like to talk to the players, regardless of gender and regardless of level. Which means that I can prevent situations more often and not draw a lot of cards all the time. I also feel that the men appreciate it more and the matches become calmer that way. Then you also have to choose your battles, because there are situations when you can't talk, but I think it's important to try to prevent it. You have to have a twinkle in your eye as a referee and sometimes you hope the players can have it too. Then, of course, I've had players who complained a lot and they say you have to whistle here and there, where as a women's referee I can go up to the men and say "Well, do you want me to lower the level to girls' football? This is exactly how I referee women's football and as an assistant in division 2 and 2 men, but you want me to lower the level for you?” Then it can be a little quieter and they sink down a little. The men don't like it when you compare it to women's football, for better or worse perhaps.


– Do you have any situation that has stuck with you, as a referee?

– There are some situations, for sure. I had a game when I lived in Stockholm and went to a game with a good refereeing team and we used headsets. It was at that time when headsets began to be used more even in the lower series. Headsets for me are an important tool and I don't think I would have continued refereeing without a headset. With a headset, it's a completely different team feeling and I can focus on the match more. At this match, my assistant waved off a goal, because it was absolutely right. So it's offside and we had great communication, through headsets. That was the last time I read the newspaper after my matches. Before this I always did it, but now I never do it anymore after I referee a match. There was a lot of writing and focus on that situation and our performance. It was not fun to read because none of what was written was true and they were inciting. There I made a decisive decision not to read after the matches. The times something positive or funny is written, I have been notified about it and then of course I can pick it up. It's too rare that we referees get praise, but then I also want to take the opportunity to tell about when the coach of a men's team in the fourth division that I refereed said a lot of positive things to me after a match. They had even spoken to my referee coach and said so, which was really fun. So, you coaches reading this take it upon yourself to talk to us referee sometimes and give feedback, both positive and negative, but do it in a good way.


– How do you think ahead and about next season?

– I'm starting to feel a bit old... but somehow I hope and really want to move up in the league system. We'll see what happens. I like football and find it hard to see myself quitting anytime soon. My goal going forward is to be in even better physical shape and to be without injury. Had an injury this year that wasn't football related, but hope I'll be healthy next year and can get the chance for tougher and better games. I have been here for a very long time now and will fight to move up.


– Something you want to finish with before we say thank you for the interview Michaela?

– I think that we who referee and working around us need to give back more of our time to younger referees. Before Christmas 2022, those who refereed the club here in Östersund got to meet and listen to Tess Olofsson, FIFA Referee, and some of us other female referees. We met them and told them about what we referee and how we work. It was super nice and many of the girls there will go on to become district referees. I think we referees need to work more on that. Then I also think that a tougher approach is needed against the serious things that happen on the football pitch, with tougher punishments. We can't just keep waving some things away because it's not okay. Some things we referees also have to proceed legally outside the field and report to the police in order for changes to be made. What is not okay off the football field should not be okay on the football field. Here we also need to work together with the football clubs more actively. A big problem is precisely in boys' soccer and that's where our referees start. If you have parents and coaches who behave badly already there, chances are they won't continue. It almost happened to me, to take an example. I hope that we in the refereeing can attract more referees and that we continue to support each other!


– Thank you for this Michaela and good luck with the 2023 season.