Rachel Williams

Refereeing and umpiring

Williams started umpiring hockey in 2006 following an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and three further knee surgeries. She began volunteering for England Hockey on their Youth Panel in 2006, was runner up for World Youth Promoter of the Year in 2010 and continues to volunteer as the Secretary of the National Programme Umpiring Association in England.

Williams has umpired various forms of hockey, including the 11-a-side game, indoor hockey, and Hockey5s. Most of her domestic growth in recent years has been in the Women's England Hockey League.

In 2014, before Williams officially qualified as a level 3 indoor umpire, she umpired the National Indoor Final with Frances Block – the first of many national finals and the start of a long career.

First appointed internationally as a judge at the Outdoor Women's Nations Championship III in Greece, Williams made her move to international umpiring in 2014 when she was appointed to the Indoor Women's EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup in Šiauliai, Lithuania. Her first international outdoor appointment was to the FIH Women's Four Nations Invitational Tournament in Berlin, Germany. After this, she continued to have consistent international appointments.

A busy set of years for Williams included umpiring at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 where she refereed the first game of the event and rounded up with the bronze medal match between India and New Zealand. Additionally, she officiated the inaugural FIH World Hockey 5s event, marking the first time a female had umpired a match between the rival men's teams of India and Pakistan. Continuing this trajectory, Williams served as an umpire for men's 11-a-side hockey for the first time at Euro Hockey League in 2022 and went on, a month later, to umpire matches between some of the top men's teams in the world (Argentina, Belgium, and Germany) at the Pro League in Mendoza, Argentina. At the start of 2023, following on from umpiring the EuroHockey Indoor Championships final between indoor giants (Germany and the Netherlands), Williams was appointed to her second Indoor World Cup in South Africa, where she became the first female to umpire at a men's Hockey World Cup and went on to umpire a women's semi-final and umpire the men's World Cup Final.

Later in 2023, Williams went to the Outdoor EuroHockey Championship (Hockey Olympic Qualifiers) where she was the first umpire to be appointed to both a men's and women's medal match at the same event. She became the first umpire to wear shorts at such an event, in a move towards a more inclusive clothing policy for the sport. She was selected to officiate field hockey at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Williams was awarded England Hockey Official of the Year 2023 as well as Tauranga Hockey Official of the Year 2023.

Appointments

2014 Women's EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup: Šiauliai, Lithuania

2014 Women's Four Nations Cup, FIH invitational tournament: Berlin, Germany

2015 Outdoor Women's EuroHockey Cup Winners Challenge II: Mérignac, France

2015 Outdoor Women's EuroHockey Under 18 Championship: Santander, Spain

2016 Women's EuroHockey Indoor Championship II: Cambrai, France

2016 Women's EuroHockey Club Trophy: Dundee, Scotland

2016 Outdoor Women's EuroHockey Cup Winners Challenge I: Prague, Czechia

2016 Outdoor Women's EuroHockey5s Future Heroes Cup B: Wałcz, Poland

2017 Women's EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy: Šiauliai, Lithuania

2017 Outdoor Women's EuroHockey Club Challenge II: Vienna, Austria

2017 Outdoor Women's EuroHockey5s Under 16 Championship: Wattignies, France

2017 Outdoor Women's EuroHockey Junior Championship II: Hradec Králové, Czechia

2017 Women's Indoor Pan American Cup: Georgetown, Guyana

2018 Women's EuroHockey Indoor Championship II: Brussels, Belgium

2018 Women's EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup: Dundee, Scotland