Match officials, the toughest job in sport? They cannot please everyone and are currently the talking point after every weekend. With social media and broadcasting sites they are always under scrutiny. With the media now onto officials after every match day, this is moving to our grassroots sports, especially football.
The United Kingdom’s most popular sport is played up and down the country on brand new astroturf pitches to local parks but with no officials, the new generation will be unable to play. From 2016, 10,00 referees have decided to hang up the whistle, causing issues around the country.
Many young referees at grassroots level are leaving early after getting started. But why and what impact does the media have on officials at a lower level. Isaac McLaughlin, a young aspiring referee has not taken to the centre circle this season, but why has he not decided not to ref and what does the future hold for referees.
Due to abuse towards officials Isaac thinks it’s getting harder for the younger generation to step foot in grassroots football “I think the process to get into refereeing is very simple but these days and the way the modern game is going its quite hard for 14-year-olds to want to be an official and aspire to be at the top of the game.”
It’s hard to gather what abuse grassroots officials do get, when you walk through your local park on a weekend you hear bits, Issac says people will be surprised with the abuse they get “From my personal experience through the last few years I would say that it is more normalised in the lower levels of football then people would expect. This is across all types of games and ages. Children at a young age look up to their parents, and if they see them hurdling abuse to the referee from the sideline it’s an instinct to join in.
“The number of parents who are shouting abuse is going up and it’s becoming a more common incident, however we need to remember it’s only a minority, but with them shouting this abuse to referees in can wreck it for the rest. Officials shouldn’t be going out their way to manage games but be subject to abuse all game.”
In recent years, shows on mainstream broadcast sites like Sky Sports have set up short programs such as ref watch, with former premier league ref Dermot Gallagher. Even though shows like this are great for the general viewer to break down some potential talking points, this will bring more abuse onto officials and Isaac feels the same.
“Shows like this bring on a lot of abuse onto Premier League referees especially as that is their focus. However, when you see people in the media breaking down every decision on a TV this will transparent to grassroots level where parents think they understand every decision and try and ref from the sidelines, this makes our life so much more difficult and puts pressure on us as we feel we are examined every game.”
When you see professional football players on your TV running towards the officials to protest every decision, but run in groups of four or five, Issac believes this does transfer down to amateur and grassroots level. As when children and parents see their idols acting one way, they think it is the correct manner.
“Treatment at the highest level of football towards football is changing now, how many times a game do you see referees booking players for running over and swearing at them but being caught on camera. Some people find this funny and believe this is the right thing to do, how many times in Rugby do you see players surrounding officials [?] It’s now become normalised in football due to people picking up other behaviors.”
People understanding what people can and cannot say to officials should be made apparent before games to parents and children. The potential of games being abandoned up and down the country due to abuse of officials has the potential to destroy and up and emerging talent and allowing our country to win trophies at the top level. Issac says referees only report abuse if it is continued from the same team.
“I’ve had poor treatment from both players and parents. I think with how modern-day officiating is you must be ready for some abuse. If it’s not from the same person I tend to let it slide to save the hassle, however if the abuse does continue this is where we must step in and report to the club. Alot of the times teams are in denial and don’t believe members of their club will speak to us like that. For a lot of us this is our part-time job, and we don’t have time to go through reports after reports.”
On Local radios and TV, you never really see media reporting on abuse on local games. Maybe the FA could do more to make the treatment more mainstream and help people understand this is not acceptable. Issac says local county FAS should do more to support refs at a lower level
“I think the level of the game should allow for children to be educated slightly better, for example in training coaches should spend more time helping children with what is right and wrong. I think we need more support from the FA, me personally I think we need support. There are limited resources at our level. I have never used the FA, it’s so hard to contact them and the procedure reporting abuse is tough.
I proposed the idea to Issac of potentially having a bodycam on all officials, just for their safety and security. However, will the FA want to create more work for themselves at a low level which they don’t care already about much.
“Bodycams could be a good option. I would be a great option to punish the offender and give us that comfort whilst we control the game. It could pick up abuse what we might not hear during the game as we are in the zone as well. The FA would need to be proactive in using the footage to ban teams and parents.”
Issac says the way football at a low level is going, the FA will struggle to hold officials.
“I think the future will be consistently young people entering to ref and then leaving as soon as possible for better opportunities. I do also think if the abuse does not stop then the shortage of officials we currently have will continue. This would mean the FA would need to change around their current strategies as they will not be viable long-term option.”
It’s not just the young generation of officials who need support in returning to the centre circle. Ian Cove, who has been a referee in round Warwickshire for over 20 years, does agree with Isaac that more needs to be done to help all ages.
“The courses to get into officiating have not changed over the last 20 years, so the retention of referees is the issue now, whether that’s from the abuse on the sidelines or the treatment from the media is still unknown.
“There’s plenty of abuse at games what people don’t see, we can hear most things from the centre circle, especially with me doing it for so long now I expect it to happen, which probably isn’t really a good thing but that is part and parcel of the job.”
Speaking on the media’s treatment of officials, Ian believes that that they see referees and the easy ones to blame.
“The media should follow that the referees are right, every athlete makes mistakes, you see strikers miss open goals, goalkeepers letting shots in through their legs, but it’s forgotten about depending on results, when you are officiating you are going to miss things, it’s the toughest job in the world and it’s made even more difficult when you have 20 players all screaming at you.
“This has been brought on by the media outlets showing that it is acceptable for players to run up to officials and not comment that what they are doing is wrong, whatever happens at the top level of the game does transparent down, the FA, media and Premier League should all work together.
“Especially parents at a youth level see the referees to blame, every foul to every throwing there is someone complaining and on are backs, this has come from the highest level of sport, from players screaming and swearing at the best refs in the country to the media hammering at half-time and full-time.
“This will continue to be transmitted to the younger generation, the children will see their parents screaming on the sidelines and believe it’s acceptable, this will lead to the continued decline of refs and tamper the sport, we cannot continue this way.
‘In my 20 years of referring I’ve had plenty of abuse, in fact I’ve even have had to abandon four games due to abuse and treatment towards me, I would like to think I am experienced in what games I pick and certain situations, for them of the younger generation and aspiring referees, it’s hard to pick and choose your games but also know how to handle these situations, this will stop them from wanting to officiate.”
I also pitched the idea of a bodycam on referees to Ian, from the older and more experienced side of officiating than Isaac. However, Ian still believes it will be crucial in supporting them at grassroots level.
“It’s a great idea if someone is being filmed, little snappy comments may be said to us that we can deal with, but it’s less likely to go to the next level.
“It’s a brilliant idea that should be implemented, especially at the cheap cost for small little cameras, with the light on them as well people will clearly know it’s on, it’s a shame that it has come to this at grassroots level, but like I said, the media could of done much more to help protect us at a lower level of football.”
On what support referees get from the FA after constant abuse portrayed down from the top level of the game and the media, Ian thinks they need to do more.
“There is little support from the FA, the respect campaign was good, but it didn’t last, and now the code of conduct is regularly breached from it.
“There needs to be more funding down to grassroots, there is potentially a next star for officiating in our county, but they need education and help on how to deal with situations, the FA should have pensioned older referees off and sent them into mentoring.”
On the future of refereeing at grassroots level, Ian believes the supply of refs will continue to drop out early.
“It will continue this way for a while I think, the lack of funding, constant abuse pushed onto us will leave the FA in this cycle. Long-term this will lead to less covered games and ultimately hamper the younger generation of players.”
With two referees from completely different age brackets having opinions which back up each other’s view on the media’s treatment and the future of officiating, it shows more has to be done from grassroots to the top level of sport.
Shows such as Ref Watch on TV, pundits before, during and after games should understand that mistakes from officials is part of the game, the treatment they get within the top level where aspiring footballers are watching their idols does transmit down to games as they believe this is norm.
More needs to be done to educate but also respect them who go out their way to make sure sports like football run smoothly.
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