Hi guys I’m a relatively young referee so I’m still a player myself and before as a player I never saw it as an issue but today as a referee I had a game where a lot of the players were swearing at each other. It was really foul and abusive language and I told them to cut it out and brought the captains in but I didn’t know if I could actually discipline players. I would really appreciate some help on this as a real way of how to learn to lower the tensions in my game when it’s not on the ball stuff like players swearing at each other. Thanks
Abusive language
- Thread starter Michael060103
- Start date
For most incidents that involve language, age is something to consider. For example if the players are younger children, (U10 and below, or there about), for any swearing, I’d be pulling specific players aside, involving their coach, and explaining why certain language isn’t acceptable, before potentially reporting as a safeguarding concern, (swearing by younger children can often suggest safeguarding issues at home). Then I’d issue sendings off if that swearing is offensive, insulting or abusive and wasn’t just general frustration. From what you’ve written though I’d assume you aren’t refereeing young children.
For anything above that, teenagers and open age football, I’d be applying a certain level of tolerance - from here it’s all about intent, tone and manner - if it’s some light banter or general discussion between players of the same team I’m fine with it - people swear in their use of language. If it’s to the level you have described - abusive, it’s a sending off, without debate. For language or actions to be a sending off offence they only have to be one of offensive, insulting or abusive, towards anyone. The actual threshold for what qualifies is different for everyone, but there tends to be some general accepted rules, for example phrases aimed directly at another individual, for example, “you [insert expletive]” would be offensive and worthy of a sending off. I would also consider words which are seen as slurs, or to have discriminatory connotations, rather than just swear words, to be a sending off regardless of the context they are said in.
As a new referee, what’s most important is that you don’t hold back in sending off players for language which is offensive, insulting or abusive. Once you’ve done it once it won’t feel as strange - but before that, just remember that your job as the referee is to enforce the laws of the game;
those laws empower you to take disciplinary action when necessary, so therefore you should do so. Talking to captains can sometimes be effective, but using your cards are even more so. Phrases such as “I don’t want to hear that again” can also sometimes be useful for incidents which don’t quite meet your threshold for OFFINABUS. Remember that for words or actions directed towards you, you can also caution and sin bin for dissent, (which is something else you’ll find a threshold for as you gain experience), but never caution players for something they say to another participant in the game, there’s very little basis for it in law.
For anything above that, teenagers and open age football, I’d be applying a certain level of tolerance - from here it’s all about intent, tone and manner - if it’s some light banter or general discussion between players of the same team I’m fine with it - people swear in their use of language. If it’s to the level you have described - abusive, it’s a sending off, without debate. For language or actions to be a sending off offence they only have to be one of offensive, insulting or abusive, towards anyone. The actual threshold for what qualifies is different for everyone, but there tends to be some general accepted rules, for example phrases aimed directly at another individual, for example, “you [insert expletive]” would be offensive and worthy of a sending off. I would also consider words which are seen as slurs, or to have discriminatory connotations, rather than just swear words, to be a sending off regardless of the context they are said in.
As a new referee, what’s most important is that you don’t hold back in sending off players for language which is offensive, insulting or abusive. Once you’ve done it once it won’t feel as strange - but before that, just remember that your job as the referee is to enforce the laws of the game;
those laws empower you to take disciplinary action when necessary, so therefore you should do so. Talking to captains can sometimes be effective, but using your cards are even more so. Phrases such as “I don’t want to hear that again” can also sometimes be useful for incidents which don’t quite meet your threshold for OFFINABUS. Remember that for words or actions directed towards you, you can also caution and sin bin for dissent, (which is something else you’ll find a threshold for as you gain experience), but never caution players for something they say to another participant in the game, there’s very little basis for it in law.
Thanks mate I really appreciate I’ve only started to do older groups this was an U16’s so I’m still getting to grasp with officiating the different age groups it’s all really different depending on the age. To be honest you’re about the thought of me using cards being weird because it is but when players are saying that they’re gonna “I’m going to break his [bleep] legs” or “I'm going to kill him” I think I need to work on that and step in because those are some of the things a player told me an opposition player said but obviously I can’t take his word for it. Thank you for this comment though it was really helpful I appreciate and feel like I’ve learnt a little and I’m going to be a better referee because of it
Players swearing at their own teammates can be a difficult thing to manage as most of the time if you question it, the reaction will be ‘I was talking to my own team!’. That doesn’t make it acceptable, but the use of swearing toward a teammate is definitely a different context to that of an opponent. Id never personally jump straight in with a red but I do tend to have a quick quiet word along the lines of ‘I can tell you’re frustrated, but try and keep the swearing down as it doesn’t look good to onlookers’. Sometimes they may just ignore that and you can begin to react accordingly but personally, I think INOFFABUS between teammates if just using swear words can be a difficult sell
Depending on context and judgement I agree with this - though the original post never says anything about the swearing being towards their own team mates, just towards ‘each other’. Whilst personally I tend to have quite high tolerance for language, surely OFFINABUS is OFFINABUS, whichever way you frame it?
Yes to be fair, I may have misunderstood the each other context there. INOFFABUS, depending on the words used is in the eye of the beholder in some ‘lesser’ terms. Obviously some particular words would be a red regardless of who is refereeing but as you are going towards the ‘less offensive’ terms then some referees would feel less obliged to send someone off than others, and I do feel those particular words can be even less abusive if used toward a teammate than an opponent. It also can depend on the tone used. It’s also been touched on in the past on this forum that certain words are more offensive down south than up north for example. Context is everything
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I think you’d get more accurate advice if you gave very specific examples. That way you can learn more about how other referees process things and the factors to consider.