abuse

Morning all. I qualified as a referee in October last year and referee exclusively at youth level (trying to balance coaching, taking my kids to their football/hockey/cricket with refereeing). I've been involved in youth football for six years now but it's only since qualifying and taking a...

I had a game yesterday. U18 county level. Home team won 7-0 (5-0 half time). It went like this. Home goal- 12 mins Home goal- 13 mins Home goal- 26 mins Away player 8- YC- 26 mins (gave away pen) Home goal - 27 mins Away player 8- 2 YC- 39 mins - His 2nd YC- off Home goal- 41 mins Away...

Been reading a lot and having a look at Referee Development Officers (RDOs) around the country (not just where I'm based) and their work within their CFAs as part of a research I'm doing on referee abuse. Is it just me or does there seem to be a lack of work regarding the retention of referees...

Hi all, I am working on an hour-long documentary for national radio focusing on referees both at grassroots and professional levels. As a large part of our target audience, I hope you don’t mind me using this platform to gauge an idea on what you would be interested to hear in the show. Is...

Good afternoon all, I am a Freelance Journalist currently completing my MA Journalism qualification at the University of Sheffield. I have been featured in FourFourTwo and The Guardian, with my online portfolio being found here: https://thomashitchenor.contently.com/ For my final project, I...

Have been refereeing for about 5 months. Today I had my first real abuse, but I’m not sure whether I made the right decision. They were U8s and it was a league match. Away team (reds) have the ball and are attacking. In the box the goalkeeper throws himself to get the ball, just gets his...

Hi there. So there has been a bit if talk over the last few weeks regarding referees not doing anything should a player report to you a racial or abusive remark. Can we assume here that we as the referee has not heard anything . What should we as a referee do if someone tells you that they...

AR loses the plot! Watch till the end, inexcusable!

So let me set the scene. I'm officiating a semi-final cup game, U13s. Team A (Home) and Team B (Away). The venue used to be an old golf club- so I was told underneath the pitch it was concrete (a driving range). You couldn't feel it underneath your feet but I'm sure if you tried hard enough you...

Gallin blows on his whistle and straightens his arm out to the side to signal the direct free-kick. Red Number Six responds by throwing both arms in the air and spinning round to face the referee. ‘What the ****, ref?’ ‘What? I got that right, don’t you think?’ Gallin retorts with a pert smile...