How lenient are you with OFFINABUS

Back refereeing after spending the past 3 seasons playing due to a fall out with the manager I used to play under.

I've done 4 games since picking the whistle and cards back up and in 3 of them have heard OFFINABUS clearly directed towards other players and one that may or may not have been directed at me, all of these coming in games from U15 to U18. For reference the language used includes "fat see you next Tuesday" "you f'ng cheating see you next tuesday" and "f'ng homophobic slur that starts with F"

How lenient are people when it comes to offensive language. I feel like all 3 off the above warranted a RC, but it just doesn't feel "right" to issue the RC because of the nature of the game, as they've all been fairly decent games apart from the language that I've clearly heard.

Basically just looking for what your guys' threshold is for issuing a RC for OFFINABUS

I understand “choosing not hear something” when probably no one else has but you and them, but absolutely no way I’m letting any of those slide. The latter would have an ER attached to it.

They say it because they get away with it.

None of those should really be let go, but especially not the last 2. The last one also 1000% needs an ER added. When it comes to OFFINABUS, my personal leniency level is virtually none existent. If it offensive or abusive, it is OFFINABUS by the very definition.

I’m with @Archer & @Gabriel - all are RC for OFFINABUS, with the last example being aggravated OFFINABUS that would have resulted in a minimum 6 game suspension, That all happened at U18 and below makes them even worse IMHO. You have to nip all of them, particularly the homophobic one, in the bud and there’s no leniency from me whatsoever.

First one, depends on context to understand if it is indeed offensive. Anywhere from ignore to a red card.
Second one, said to me is a red card. Said to another player, context is important. For example said to to a player after I have just cautioned that player for simulation then a strong bollocking may be sufficient.
Last one is a clear red even if I am the only one who hears it.

This saddens me - youth players already using language like this - what a mess the game of football is. If they used this language at school they would receive a sanction. Context is key but all of these need pulling up and a strong public telling off at the very least. Last one is a RC and ER 10 times out of 10.

The captain of my football team (or should I say former as their U18s season has just finished and most are off to uni now) is (along with my son) going for level 4 this year. He and my son are also the FA CORE nominees for the county.

When they’re playing, he uses language that would make a sailor blush. Never directed at the ref or the opposition, and generally used for encouragement “let’s f**cking raise it” or “they don’t f**cking want it” etc.

I wouldn’t generally come down hard on that, but would do if it were directed at the opposition or ref.

Appreciate all of the comments and feedback. for all of these incidents they where all given a stern talking too about the language used and how other referees may not let them off with this language.

Upon reflection, I 100% should have dismissed the player for the homophobic comment. What made it worse was that players father came up to me at the end of the game and asked what he had said to warrant a 2 minute conversation and his fathers reply was "that doesn't surprise me at all".

But appreciate the feedback and will definitely be a talking a zero tolerance stance on the above from now on!

We al

JT1997 said:

Appreciate all of the comments and feedback. for all of these incidents they where all given a stern talking too about the language used and how other referees may not let them off with this language.

Upon reflection, I 100% should have dismissed the player for the homophobic comment. What made it worse was that players father came up to me at the end of the game and asked what he had said to warrant a 2 minute conversation and his fathers reply was "that doesn't surprise me at all".

But appreciate the feedback and will definitely be a talking a zero tolerance stance on the above from now on!

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We all miss them. Had a comment from manager once ‘****ing ***’ relating a nationationality, clear racism. Opposition begging me to not make a deal of it and just gave a talking to to both managers. Played on my mind so much after that I should have sent him off (obviously I should have). I would never let behaviour like that go again - people like that know what the are doing when they say these things and they should be no where near the game.

I'm probably going to play devils advocate with this one, but the one directed at you - 100% RC. I too had my first straight red in a U14 this season, a lot of "oh you could have sin binned him" etc etc, but ultimately just like fouls if you're gonna do it/say it, you have to be ready for the consequences.
With you on the ones directed at players, sometimes they're joking/moaning at each other but its a fine line, the ones directed at you easier to give and sanction

Generally speaking I would say OFFINABUS is always going to generate debate and there won’t be consistency. When I first started 30 years ago I had a very quick trigger hand and had a lot of red cards. These days it takes a lot to offend me and they are very rare.

But if a referee hears any discriminatory language it immediately moves away from their tolerance level, it can only be a red card and an extraordinary incident report.

I had an interesting discussion with a coach after a recent match where I was the Observer.
He was kicking a ball with his 3-year-old son.
He asked me my view of the game, and we discussed the outcome (but not the officiating) - his team had won.
I asked him how it was that here he was chatting amicably, but during the warm up and throughout the game he inserted the "F" word in every sentence. He thought about it briefly then said "Everybody does it, don't they?"
That's where we have got to, as @RustyRef has said. Unfortunate, as we try to encourage families to come to matches, and the language adds nothing to the coach's messages to players or match officials.

I have to say my tolerance levels for dissent/OFFINABUS are very low.

If someone continues shouting and bellowing after a second or two, they get a sin bin (or YC if a coach).

If it is offensive, they can go in the bin. I understand that frustrations can get high - but players need to control theirs, as we control ours.

I have little sympathy for players who get it wrong these days. I’m always happy to discuss decisions with a pint after the game and if wrong hold my hands up. But during the game, it has to be done in the correct way.

Wolf_Ref said:

I have to say my tolerance levels for dissent/OFFINABUS are very low.

If someone continues shouting and bellowing after a second or two, they get a sin bin (or YC if a coach).

If it is offensive, they can go in the bin. I understand that frustrations can get high - but players need to control theirs, as we control ours.

I have little sympathy for players who get it wrong these days. I’m always happy to discuss decisions with a pint after the game and if wrong hold my hands up. But during the game, it has to be done in the correct way.

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Out of interest, do you ever send off for O/I/A language and/or actions?

Wolf_Ref said:

If it is offensive, they can go in the bin.

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If it's offensive they should be going to the changing room, not the "bin".

On one hand context, target and personal tolerance are always different.

On the other hand we must be able to identify and sanction pejorative language e.g. racist, homophobic, misogynist and “disablism” (not a term I use, but I understand it’s usefulness).

And, I think we should all have a consistent response to any accusations about cheating and referee integrity. This feels hard when “smart” players make veiled accusations.

Bonus - I am in multilingual environment. 2-4 languages in a match is normal. There’s not much I can do if I find out after the match a player might have used “poison dwarf” in Spanish or “son of a Murmansk wh***” in Russian.

I accept that consistency is impossible with OFFINABUS. 1000 matches and (only) about ten red cards for this. And I am not lenient. If I interpret it as OFFINABUS I can take that responsibility. If a team wants to appeal, the league can decide their own bar later.

I’ve gone on a bit but I think we should have the lowest bar. And we should not find excuses for the offenders. And maybe examples do help. And I don’t give these because I think I have some personally advanced moral compass - rather to highlight how easy it is to find excuses to avoid red cards.

I have sent off a youth coach (also resulting in abandonment, only adult) for suggestion calmly I sent off his player because of his skin colour. I have sent off a Spanish African player for calling a French African player a “c***ing monkey” in the local dialect (a common curse).

Oh he was calm. Oh actually he’s also black. I firmly believe we should not let excuses cloud our judgement. Give the red cards.

Kes said:

If it's offensive they should be going to the changing room, not the "bin".

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I meant the bin bin, not the sin bin.

ChasObserverRefDeveloper said:

Out of interest, do you ever send off for O/I/A language and/or actions?

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I don’t send off for general swearing, but if it is directed at me and is personal, e.g. as one player experienced last season shouting “ref you’re f***ing s**t” (twice in a row), they can have a red - I understand frustration, but that isn’t an excuse to be abusive.

I have sent a player off for using the c word in an aggressive and quite horrific way towards a club assistant who kept giving offside against his team (correctly, might I add). Player had lost his head and crossed the line - was in a low (step 6) level.

Have sent players off in the past for homophobic slurs towards other players- I’d like to think that all referees would also do so.