On Oct. 26, Xinhua reported that Japanese female referee Ryoomi Yamashita, who will be in charge of the Qatar World Cup, revealed in an interview that she is filled with the joy of realizing her dream.
Ryoomi Yamashita, 36, is unique among the 36 head referees announced by FIFA, being one of only three women among them. In recent years, she has not only officiated in the J-League and AFC Champions League, but has also featured at the 2019 Women's World Cup and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
She confessed, "I don't think the women's game is fundamentally different from the men's game. Certainly, improving the speed of penalties is a key focus of our preparation for the World Cup in Qatar, and that includes improving the speed of running, which is crucial to improving the speed of penalties."
Talking about how to improve her running speed, she recalled that as a defender during her time as a player, she was not very fast. But since becoming a referee, she started to focus on speed training. Especially since becoming a FIFA registered referee in 2015, she has been training with a personal trainer and still does so consistently, which has led to a significant improvement in her running ability.
As the only referee from Japan at the World Cup in Qatar, Ryoumi Yamashita said that she "felt apprehensive every day" as the World Cup approached. However, she receives a lot of encouragement every day, which makes her forget this apprehension. She said that when she became a player, she thought the World Cup was an unattainable dream, and after she started working as a referee, she also saw the World Cup as an unattainable goal. Now that she is able to enforce the World Cup, she is filled with the joy of realizing her dream.
Reflecting on her refereeing career, Ryoumi Yamashita lamented, "There has not been a single refereeing experience that I have been completely satisfied with so far. The most difficult part of being a soccer referee is the lonely solitary practice every day and the self-reproach and remorse after mistakes."
Regarding the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system introduced in recent years on the field of play, she believes that VAR is a product of the development of the times, and the referees can use it to make more accurate judgments, and it is a good auxiliary means. However, she also said that if VAR had been available at the 1986 World Cup, there might not have been the goal that Maradona scored with his hand against England. "When I think about it, I can't help but feel regret, but as a referee, I don't know if it's appropriate to express it that way."
She believes that the human touch is equally important as a referee. A good game requires forgetful players and forgetful spectators, and the referee should help the game to achieve that. She admits that she has not practiced specifically for VAR, perhaps because it puts her under pressure.
