Mandy Lees says refereeing her twins is hard

Mandy Lees and 17-year-old Beccy and Sam play football for Kinmel Bay Girls' team in Conwy, north Wales.

On Friday, they were among nine young girls and women to receive their referee certificates from assembly Sports Minister Alun Pugh.

There are only a dozen women referees in Wales, and 1,000 across the UK.

With more and more girls playing football they're going to need their own officials Bill Darwin, Kinmel Bay Girls FC

Ms Lees, 37, a mother of five from Prestatyn, said: "I think it's brilliant and I'm really proud of my girls."

All the women, aged 15 - 48, had up to 13 weeks' training before an exam.

"It's hard to referee your own daughters' match and you can be harder on them," she said. "The only girl to refute one of my decisions was my own daughter, Beccy.

Alex Darwin's father runs the girls' teams

"Some of the male referees are a bit too lenient on the girls or they've got a point to prove and I think women communicate better with women than men do."

But Sam, a student at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru, said a male or female referee did not make any difference to a game.

Sam said: "It's not very hard to referee, only when the kids have a go at you."

Beccy is still waiting for her first game but said she could not wait.

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"I'd like a career in football, all my family are football fans," she said.

Their mother said refereeing had changed them. "My daughters were not very confident at all, they hardly spoke but now you can't shut them up," she said.

They have been encouraged by Ms Lees' partner Terence Quinn, although she admitted: "He doesn't like it when I interrupt matches on television about the referee's decision".

There are up to 100 girls signed on the books at Kinmel Bay, and the six teams play other female teams from throughout north Wales.

"Girls' football didn't exist in north Wales two years ago, now they have their own league," said Bill Darwin, who set up the referee course.

"With more and more girls playing football they're going to need their own officials," he said.

"There's only the odd token female referee and now these girls can referee the under 10s and 12s matches."

The Football Association said women could officiate at the same level as men, such as Amy Rayner, who is a referee in the Nationwide Conference and an assistant in the Football League.

Wendy Toms was the first woman to be an official at league level in 1991 and was a lineswoman in the Premiership in 1997. She now officiates in the Football League.