The arbitral trio Ineke Boom, Nel Rentenaar and Klaziena Laan surprised the football world in 1961 by whistling at a large junior tournament in Alkmaar. The women were secretly trained by the Alkmaar KNVB director Teun Bakker. His revolutionary idea came from the lack of referees.
At that time, women were not allowed to be members of the KNVB, so no referee at all. The women secretly received training from the Noord-Holland department of the KNVB and so they wrote history on 10 and 11 June 1961.
Their performance can be seen as an important moment for the emancipation of women in football. At the time, football was forbidden for women in many countries.
Later recognition
According to the national rules of the KNVB, their education was illegal, so that they did not get an official diploma. That recognition did not come until November 1962. Boom and Rentenaar had already stopped as referees. Laan, now deceased, went on for longer and therefore received a KNVB diploma.
The Alkmaarse Shona Shukrula also wrote history in October 2024. The referee was the first woman to whistle a match in professional football among the men. It was about the match between Top Oss and ADO Den Haag.