December 15, 2023
NFL Makes History In Chargers-Raiders Game With All-Black Officiating Crew Including 3 Women
Thursday's NFL game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers included the first all-Black officiating crew with three women
NFL history was made during Thursday’s game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers as referee Ronald Torbert captained the first all-Black on-field and replay crew to officiate a game.
In addition to being an all-Black crew, the Athletic reports, the officiating team included three women, with Maia Chaka serving as the line judge, Artenzia Young-Seigler as the replay official, and Desiree Abrams as the replay assistant. The crew called a combined 10 penalties for 95 yards in the game.
The NFL has boosted its diversity and inclusion efforts in recent years and announced during a media session earlier this month on its DEI efforts that 51% of NFL club personnel are people of color and women, the most in league history. Today, the NFL has nine full-time Black general managers, five full-time Black team presidents, and four head coaches, including Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, who guided his team to a 63-21 victory Thursday to give the team a 6-8 record this season.
The first NFL game to be officiated by an all-Black crew was on Nov. 23, 2020, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the Los Angeles Rams. Jerome Boger led the seven-man officiating crew for the game. It included Barry Anderson (umpire), Anthony Jeffries (side judge), Carl Johnson (line judge), Julian Mapp (down judge), Dale Shaw (field judge), and Greg Steed (back judge).
The NFL’s first Black referee was Johnny Grier, who was promoted from field judge in 1988, 68 years after the NFL’s first season in 1920. Sarah Thomas became the first female to work as an on-field official in 2006, 99 years after the league’s first season.
“We’re focused on working with the clubs to improve diversity up and down the ranks of the NFL in their organizations,” Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity & inclusion officer, said during the media session. “It’s really the humans-to-human connection and building relationships that hopefully are long-standing.”