Sexism still deeply engrained in amateur football

I'm glad she didn't hear the comment of the beer swilling young blokes watching an amateur game on the pitch next to the one where we were just getting back onto the field for the second half.

I was five yards behind her. "I'm putting my rapist's face on," the thuggish idiot said, loud enough for me to hear 15 yards away. I hoped she hadn't heard it. if she did, she must have gritted her teeth.
Saturday was the first time I had officiated with a woman in more than 10 years of reffing. That stat in itself is as I suspect there's no more than one or two woman officials among the 50-60 registered in the league in Kent where I ref..
I had no idea I was sharing the flag with a woman and was surprised to enter the changing rooms to find a woman sitting there. I suspect the fact she has a name that could be male or female has surprised a good few middle aged blokes!
There were no facilities for her to change. The referee and I left the changing rooms to allow her to get dressed but at the end of the game it was more chaotic and she changed in the women's toilet next door. The corridor outside was packed with naked blokes making their way to the showers. This isn't a complaint about the club concerned, which is welcoming and well behaved.
But my colleague put up with it all with a smile and a thick skin that has clearly developed over a few years of facing up to some ribald comments from footballers and club officials who are not too famous for their enlightened attitudes towards women and their role in society.
She was a long way from me during the game but said she had no problems. All 3 of us officials swapped information about the one mistake each we realised we'd made. She did a good job and was certainly a lot swifter up and down the line than me. The players did not seem to even recognise the sex of the Assistant Referee.
But just as spectators and officials seem to know no moral limits when they're on the touchline, so a few of them spoiled it with grossly sexist comments. They were uttered, in cowardly fashion, away from my colleague who I'm sure would have given them as good as she got.
But she shouldn't have to face that kind of behaviour at all.