Scotland Women v Ukraine Women

HAMPDEN PARK / FRIDAY 26, NOVEMBER 2021 SCOTLAND v UKRAINE / 20
Vikki Allan always knew she’d have to deal
with highs and lows in her double life as a
referee.
She just didn’t expect the words of wisdom to
be quite so literal.
Allan’s adventures have taken her from
prestigious games in Scotland to the UEFA
Women’s Champions League, but she’s also
taken a few unexpected turns along the way.
She made the trek up Mount Kilimanjaro to
help stage the highest altitude match ever
played, before running the line in Jordan, next
to the Dead Sea, for the lowest ever recorded.
Allan said: “I passed my course in 2009 and I
could never have predicted where refereeing
would take me within football. It’s only grown
my love of the game and I’ve had some
amazing opportunities.
“Back in 2017 I was involved in a game that
took place in a crater close to the summit of
Mount Kilimanjaro, as part of an initiative to
close the gender equality gap in the game.
“It took us seven days to get to the top and it
was easily one of the toughest things I’ve ever
experienced.
“I got quite ill at one point. We put it down to
altitude sickness but it turned out to be a bad
reaction to my malaria tablets. So I was juggling
being ill with walking eight hours a day.
“I remember on the last day we set off at
2am and we didn’t reach our destination until
about 8.30am. It was a straight climb and the
altitude hit me.
“The 90-minute match felt like it lasted about
six hours. We had to mark the pitch out with
flour because you couldn’t leave a permanent
mark on the site.
“There were oxygen tanks at the side of
the pitch and, afterwards, we climbed to
the very top.
“Second time around we were in Jordan, next
to the Dead Sea, and it was another amazing
experience.
“We had 170 girls there and it was the first
time they’d ever played football outside. I felt
really emotional after that. That pitch was left
intact so they had a safe place to play. There
was a lasting legacy to it.”
It’s taken dedication to balance working her
way through the refereeing ranks alongside her
day job as an Edinburgh-based finance worker,
but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
She reflected: “I look back to lockdown and it
felt like a real privilege to be able to travel the
country, and Europe, to officiate.
“It was a bizarre, stressful experience at times
with deserted airports and differing protocols
for each country. I went to Lithuania, Poland,
France and Denmark, and it could be a case
of being packed into a car and having meals
delivered to a hotel room.
“I’ll never take any of it for granted. I can’t kick
a ball to save my life, so there was no way I’d
ever be anywhere good enough to play in the
Champions League.
“I feel like I’ve been able to do the next best
thing. When you’re walking out and you hear
that music playing, there is a bit of you that
thinks ‘this is a moment’.”
Allan’s also acted as a mentor for
young hopefuls looking to emulate her
achievements, and she’d love to see those
numbers swell.
The game has come a long way in a short
space of time and some of the hurdles she
had to overcome simply no longer exist.
She said: “Football’s moved on massively,
even in the relatively short space of time that
I’ve been involved.