Rebecca Welch will become the first woman to referee a Premier League match when she takes charge of Fulham’s home game against Burnley on 23 December. Three days later Sam Allison will also make history as the first black referee to officiate in the top flight for 15 years when he steps out at Bramall Lane for Sheffield United v Luton. Welch and Allison belong to the development group of officials fast-tracked by Professional Game Match Officials Limited to help improve the quality of refereeing in the four top divisions in England. The pair have been refereeing in the Championship this season, with Welch also acting as a fourth official in the Premier League. “Rebecca and Sam were part of the development group that was created last year,” said Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer at PGMOL. “Credit to them they have delivered good performances in the Championship this season and deserve their opportunities due to their quality and the talent that they have. “Of course it’s significant in terms of Rebecca being the first female to take the whistle in the Premier League … and Sam being the first black referee in the Premier League since Uriah Rennie back in 2008. The profile of the game[s] will serve as a role model for others in under-represented communities and that is undoubtedly a positive. “We need greater diversity because undoubtedly there is quality in all communities and previously for whatever reason we have not been able to bring people through from those groups and now it’s happening at last thankfully.” Welch, 40, has been refereeing since 2010 and has hit a number of milestones. She has taken charge of matches in the Women’s Super League and Women’s Champions League and officiated at this year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In the men’s game she became the first woman to referee in the Championship in 2021 and the first to referee in the FA Cup in 2022. She has also, however, been the subject of abuse, with two teenagers arrested on suspicion of targeting Welch with “misogynistic chanting” during Birmingham’s Championship fixture against Sheffield Wednesday last month. Allison was added to the national list of referees in 2020 and promoted to the Championship this season. At the time of his appointment he told the Guardian “I feel I’ve done my apprenticeship, I’ve done my learning. I’ve got to my position and have not allowed anything to prevent me from being successful.” Webb said Welch and Allison had benefited from their involvement in the development group but that, with new resources to help develop more officials, PGMOL wanted to cast its net as broadly as it could. “We’re not only looking at officials within that group, we’re also looking at officials who sit outside of it,” he said. “People develop at different rates … we really want to give everyone who is performing well an opportunity and then as a result entice more people into refereeing from the outset.”