Arcticle two- Respect the Ref

Referees in the football are making a stand to stop the foul and abusive language and behaviour they are getting from the players. This season the Football Association launched the ‘Respect the Ref’ campaign in a bid to kick this type of behaviour out of football.

Premiership players are role models to the young sporting children hoping to one day step into the shoes of their idols. So why do these ‘stars’ feel its ok to show verbal abuse to the officials of the game?

It’s not just the players but the managers to who are being pulled up for this behaviour. Manchester united manager Sir Alex Ferguson this week undertook his second touch line ban for going on an angry tirade at Mike Dean after the game against Hull City at Old Trafford. Fergie also got fined £10,000.

Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear was also in the headlines after calling referee Martin Atkinson a ‘Mickey mouse referee’. Behaviour like this from the managers of clubs who are meant to be looking out for their teams is not good encouragement for young children.

The ban was also brought forward to cut out players questioning referees decisions and trying to apply pressure to overrule them. It was also introduced to try to get rid of the diving in football. But has it worked?

Since the beginning of the season we haven’t really seen a change in players attitude towards the ref, but there has been a change in the strictness levels put in place by the FA whether to fine a person for their behaviour towards the game.

Players have to understand that referees have the most difficult job on the pitch and it is very difficult to make every right decision. Top flight referees have enough on their back with the thousands of angry football fans waiting to shout and scream at them for making a wrong decision they don’t need the extra pressure from the players.

Suggestions have been made for there to be a digital referee to be included in football. This means the ref can refer to others by using video footage and replays to make sure the correct decision is made. But some believe that this is removing the true spirit of football.

Eastleigh and district mini league football officials were one of the first to start this campaign in grass roots football. From watching a high number of youth team matches it was occurring that players were being booked for foul language against others and sometimes towards the ref. If we want adults to follow the respect the ref campaign it is also important to introduce it to the young football players in youth leagues.

Youth league referee Lewis Burgess said “I haven’t really noticed any swearing from young children in the game, but I think that the campaign has defiantly hit the parents and I have noticed at improvement in the behaviour of some team coaches”.