Jawahir Roble (born 1995), also known as Jawahir Jewels or JJ, is a Somali-born British football referee. The ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' has called her "the most remarkable referee in England". She herself has said, "Who would ever think a black, Somali-born immigrant girl with eight siblings could ref a men’s game in England with a hijab on?".

Early life

Jawahir Roble was born in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, and grew up in north-west London with her parents and eight siblings. She has said, "We always played football in the garden, in the house, outside, everywhere". Roble is a Muslim, and wears a

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

when working as a referee.

Career

In 2014, aged 19, she became more serious about how to encourage Muslim girls to play football. In 2013, she obtained a £300 grant, and managed to involve Ciara Allan, her local Middlesex county FA women and girls football development officer. In September 2013, Allen launched the Middlesex FA Women's League with a new

Desi Desi ( or or ; Hindustani language, Hindustani: देसी , , ) also Deshi, is a loose term used to describe the ethnic groups in South Asia, peoples, culture of South Asia, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and their Sout ...

division for girls. In return for refereeing games every week, Middlesex FA funded Roble's formal referee training. In 2017, she was one of eleven award winners at the Respect Awards, and collected the Match Official prize. Roble's award was in recognition of her volunteering work for the education charity Football Beyond Borders (FBB) and with the

Middlesex FA The Middlesex Football Association is an organisation that regulates and promotes football, aiming to increase the quantity and quality of participation in the historic area of Middlesex. History The Middlesex F.A. was founded in 1883 by the Foot ...

, coaching FBB's first women's team, as well as for achieving a Level Six refereeing qualification. She is an FA Youth Leader. She has said, "Of course they're surprised to see a Muslim girl refereeing! I'm kind of short as well so they're like 'okay, what is this child doing here' ".

Vision

In 2014, Roble then aged 19 wrote,

I have a dream that one day my fellow Muslim sisters will happily play sport. My aim is to engage young Muslim girls into sports from the ages of 8 years to 15. My overall aim is to promote football as a tool to engage young girls and then to run workshops that help develop team building skills, boost confidence and also promote a healthy lifestyle.

Honours and recognition

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2019. Roble was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to association football.

References

Living people Somalian women Women association football referees Somalian emigrants to the United Kingdom British football referees British Muslims 1995 births Members of the Order of the British Empire Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom {{Somalia-bio-stub