Women bring calm and skill to the beautiful game

Men may soon find their female partners have a better grasp of the offside rule in football than they do.

A growing army of female footballers is proving that not only can women "bend it like Beckham", they can also referee the game at least as well as men, an academic conference heard this week.

The number of female referees in the UK has nearly quadrupled to 1,100 in the past three years - a fact that reflects the increasing popularity of the sport among women, with an estimated 1.4 million female players in England alone.

According to Ian Blanchard, a former Premiership referee who is now a Football Association referee manager, women are more likely than men to stay calm in potentially confrontational situations on the pitch both as players and referees.

Mr Blanchard, who was coordinating a refereeing workshop at the UK's first international academic conference on women's football at the University of Central Lancashire, said: "The discipline side is much better in the women's game.

"The players are far more accepting of a referee's decision.

From the point of view of women coming into a male-dominated game, they are to be applauded.

They are very much equal when it comes to the skills needed to be a referee or a player."

Jess Macbeth, a research fellow at Uclan's International Football Institute and organiser of the conference, said women's football was the subject of a growing body of research.

Papers submitted to the conference explore a diverse range of topics, from media representation of women in football to the history of women's football in Iran.

The conference was arranged in collaboration with the FA and Sport England to raise awareness of women's football, and coincided with the start of the Uefa European Women's Championship finals, which kicked off last weekend with England's 3-2 victory over Finland.

Dr Macbeth said: "Some people say the women's game is less powerful than the men's, but is therefore more skilful. I think many people who have not seen it before will be surprised at the high standard."