Shona Shukrula is destined to become the first female arbitrator in Dutch professional football. Thirty-year-old Shukrula combines refereeing with her full-time job as a public prosecutor and is looking forward to her debut in the Kitchen Champion Division, where she has been the fourth official for a year and a half. “I’ve been on the road for twelve years and now I’m starting to get close. And the last step is perhaps the most difficult,” Shukrula said on Thursday General Newspaper.
Today the documentary The Laws of Shona will be released at ESPN. The fact that the KNVB is co-initiator of the documentary confirms the image that Shukrula is destined to become the first female referee in professional football. “I recognize that predestined,” says Shukrula. “But you have to consider what that entails. I expect a lot from myself, but others also from me. I feel the anticipation and the disappointment if it doesn’t work out. Look, the KNVB will never give me anything. I had to earn every promotion myself. The KNVB wants it, but if I don’t show it?”
Shona Shukrula has two great passions: working as a public prosecutor and whistling as an official KNVB referee.
?? ‘The Laws of Shona’, a production of the KNVB, with support from @ARAG_nlcan be seen from 27-1 via @ESPNnl and from 28-1 via: https://t.co/B1tjg0YJYG pic.twitter.com/7goK4PShaC
— KNVB (@KNVB) January 25, 2022
“Then it’s a pity. Because then there is probably someone else who will show it. At the end of the day, you can only look at yourself. If it didn’t work, I can’t blame anyone.” Shukrula thinks that the KNVB does not just bring her. “That they think: if we do it, she must be ready. Because it can go wrong, right? Everyone can do that. But when it happens to me, everyone watches. I have a role model in that regard. If I do it right, other girls will see that it is possible. Then I show society that women can lead in this position. But if it fails, then you know what you are going to hear.”
“’A woman tried it, but I didn’t like it.’ You get that pressure. I’m the first and I have to do it right.” Shukrula recently went through a small media storm as a result of her relationship with Jeff Hardeveld, defender of FC Emmen. The news also reached abroad. “It’s intense, you know,” Shukrula says. “When the preview of an Emmen match is on, they are talking for five minutes about what they think of my relationship. Then someone wonders if my career is now on the back burner. Then I think: why would you say that?”
“Certainly because the KNVB has long said it sees no problems. I’ve been hard at work for twelve years,” emphasizes Shukrula. “My career is number 1. Then you hear these kinds of noises and you just think: no, you are not right. Now I also realize what it must be like for players.” Shukrula understands that she is becoming more and more a banner for female arbitrators, but emphasizes that at the end of the day ‘it should always be about quality’. “Not because you’re a woman. You must be good. When I’m ready, I want to show that it’s all about quality.”
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
Click here for exclusive interviews, talent scouts, current positions and the program on our Kitchen Champion Division page.