I've been involved in local boys (HBSFL) football for a while now and currently coach an U15s side. The standard of refereeing varies greatly from one ref to another. The lack of consistency is really what we fight against as coaches. That said, we would prefer to play with the refs the league allocate to us and we as a club and team fully support the referees on match day. I can honestly say I have never come across an independent ref that I would consider has been biassed towards either team - yes we have had shocking decisions, but they tend to be equalled out over the game. When it falls down is when we don't get a ref allocated, and a coach has to do it - I have experienced bias in this scenario quite a few times. The scenario initially described where parents are abusive and shouting towards the ref is one of the reasons that we dont get a ref every match because why would anyone put thmeselves through that abuse week in week out? I have no issue with parents shouting and encouraging - that is what makes the game special for the boys - but if we don't respect the refs, then we won't have them for any matches. The thing is - I suspect that the players are not talking about the refereeing now, but the parents probably are!
Spot on. I reffed for one season, I decided I had better things to do on a wrekend than be abused from the sidelines. The kids were never a provlem.
Yeah the kids are not a problem on the whole, but they do pick up on what they see on the TV or watching the professionals live. Managers also get away with a lot of things when they criticise referees so it is only natural that they get shown a lot of disrespect. I know of an incident outside the HBSFL where an U15 player physically assaulted a referee. The ramifications are huge for this boy - he cant play again (obviously) nor train with his friends / teammates, can't play for school, the police are now involved and he may be banned from FA venues (he is a season tickeet holder for Newcastle). I think this all comes from the level of respect referees are given byt professionals and quite often parents at local game level.
