WHEN 14-year-old Carmen Chadwick dons her favourite black outfit, the boys go weak at the knees.

But it's when she starts blowing her whistle and brandish cards that the lads really start to tremble.

For Carmen is the area's youngest female referee, and is responsible for bringing badly-behaved youngsters in the Central Lancashire Football League to book on the football field.

And while male referees may be tough, not many of them can boast reducing local bad-boy footballers to tears.

"This one lad had done something wrong and I waved a card at him and he started crying," said Carmen, a pupil at Archbishop Temple High School in Fulwood. "I wasn't expecting it at all and I ended up feeling guilty!"

Carmen is one of a increasing number of girls interested in refereeing, and she has become a regular sight in Preston's parks since sitting a training course at Deepdale.

She's now swotting for another set of exams next month, which will take her one step closer to achieving her goal of becoming a premier league referee.

She became involved in the job because her mum works with Jim Bryson, a local referee co-ordinator.

But despite the obvious stereotypes associated with girls and football, Carmen says she has more problems dealing with people off the pitch.

She said: "The players are normally fine with me, it is the parents you have to watch out for because they often scream and shout at me from the sides.

"But my Dad comes with me to every game so he's there to step in if anything goes wrong. It hasn't yet."

Her teacher at Archbishop Temple, John Wilson, said: "We offer refereeing as part of the national curriculum but this is the first time we have a girl who has sat the professional qualifications.

"We will certainly utilise her!"

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