Very interesting. I refereed for a couple of seasons in the early 90s but stopped when I realised I was getting too many decisions wrong and sometimes there was an element of bias when asked by a friend to referee his son's teams I was called a w***** once but that was it!! So what are your thoughts folks? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...live-in-fear-as-grass-roots-game-spirals-out/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...live-in-fear-as-grass-roots-game-spirals-out/ Perhaps a strike is what is needed....make players and supporters realise that you can't play a game without officials.
I have to plead guilty to one incident. Supported my son for many years and never harangued the ref ever, till the day we had the worst linesman ever seen. Absolutely had no idea of the offside rule, seemed to think that none of our players was allowed to get ahead of the game...even when they started their run from way back. Flagged every time we were in a position to score. I got so cross, I began to run behind him giving him instructions and helpful advice. By the end of the game, his knowledge of the rules was better...though he looked scared.
On Sunday one of the players said to me "Are you throwing the game ref?" When I sent him off (calling or implying that a referee is a cheat/biased is a straight red card offence) he got abusive and started hurling all sorts of abuse at me. In the end he was dragged off by team mates. It's getting ridiculous.
Thank God his team mates were more level headed!! I am sure 90% of matches are OK but there are the other 10%... Good luck. Have you got lots of matches over Easter or is everyone away on holiday?
Some parents can behave terribly (please ignore above story as I was really provoked ). We are generally a nice bunch on the Island...it was quite a revelation when we travelled to play rough mainland sides. We met some lovely people (some provided us with food after our journey), but some teams were truly rough. Have to say that sometimes the refs didn't give our boys enough protection...suppose they were in fear of their lives.
Yes the rules don't appear to help you do they ? When I played all good refs would have given a bloody good warning first,unfortunately there were some poor ones that didn't ever have control.
Calling a referee a cheat is the worst thing for a referee to hear. I wouldn't give a warning for that even if I wanted to. I couldn't reach for the red card quick enough. Can't tolerate people who call me a cheat.
I had to stop a rival player from trying attack a ref once. The ref sent one of their players off and this short fat middle age guy went mad. He started shouting abuse at the ref then ran towards him saying he was going to headbutt him. So I just stepped in front of the ref. The guy stopped and walked off.
It's dreadful and, although I'm not known to keep my view about certain officials to myself, I realise it's an incredibly hard job and you cannot play the game without one (once when I was at uni - back in the dark ages - we played an inter-departmental game without any officials - there were none available - and it degenerated into complete farce after about 10 minutes when I was hacked down in the box and the other team said it wasn't a penalty) What needs to happen is that the referee needs to be given more protection and respect by the players - like in rugby (though I am increasingly frustrated now by the back chat to the rugby ref in many games). There needs to be a rule that only the captain and, perhaps, one other player can speak to the ref and ANY other player giving a verbal opinion will be booked .......... It would be absolute carnage for the first few weeks and then players would eventually get it (and we'd need to arrange an armed guard for Tom for a month or two) ........ Sadly, I don't see that ever happening though - consequently, what will eventually happen is that no-one will want to ref at lower levels (and, therefore, we'll get no decent refs at a higher level) ....... I know Fats has a great idea on how to possibly bring better refs into the lower levels ........ but I'll let him explain it (you were telling me before the game on Sunday, Fats ..... )
No, because that means they win. It will ruin it for the majority who do it right. I have very strong views on this. Each coach at youth level has to attend a "Safe Guarding Children" course that includes behaviour of fans, parents, players and coaches. I asked on my last course (to the local County FA) who polices the behaviour we were being taught to implement - the answer? "Oh we don't work weekends". I detest the behaviour with a passion. Last July I had to separate two groups of parents after the final at our club tournament (not our teams parents) and nearly every week I see and hear awful behaviour on the touchline. Those who know me or have had a debate on here with me, will probably realise I am pretty damned competitive, however at boys football RESPECT must come above all. Respect to all there, fun for the boys and then hopefully learning and developing as players before winning and kids football. I still at U15s will substitute a player for 10 minutes if they show dissent to the referee. The FA need to start this at the top and the bottom. Stop players getting in officials faces. Ban players. Deduct points. Tell the clubs at the beginning of the season that this is going to happen and then actually deliver the punishment. Two mad weekends and it is over. There is no excuse.
Thanks Dave - I remember that now. We were discussing referees before Saturday's game and (sorry Tom and some others, you may not like it) someone said refs would be better if they had played the game at a good level and suggested using players after their careers. I said there was a couple of problems there, one being the money they've earned and lack of motivation to be a ref and also the length of time to gain proper referee experience and work up through they system. My suggestion therefore was to work with apprentices or young pros up to say 21 who didn't get new contracts at their clubs, or who didn't get passed the apprenticeship level. It would be better to start at the lower level clubs (League one and two as top level players who get rejected as youngsters often get a chance with a lower league club, but if for example you are released as an 18/19 year old from Hartlepool, then you are unlikely to make it as a professional footballer. These players will be young men who would have played a decent standard of football and so "be in touch" with what a player is trying to do and could be offered a fast track or a Referee Apprenticeship (copyright Fats Enterprises). You'd then get a good chance of eliminating one of the big criticism of referees and that is the one that say they haven't really played the game at a decent level and so don't understand the players. I felt this would be a way of keeping people in the game rather than being discarded from the game altogether. Just a thought.
No not oh dear. I'd rather be called a ****ing **** than a cheat. It would still be a red card of course, but calling a referee a cheat fully merits a red card, a 3 match ban and fine.
