Ban the riff-raff roughing up refs

WHO would be a football ref? As thankless tasks go, it’s got to be up there with being a traffic warden.

They both wear black, dish out punishments and are hated by a big chunk of the population.

On a list of people that folk would like to hang out with, they’d be as welcome as a shy actress at King Chas’s Coronation bash.

Unfortunately for both, they are often on the receiving end of abuse and assaults. And it has to stop.

When it comes to football officials the violence is out of hand.

In a poll of more than 900 referees in England, 293 said they had been physically abused by spectators, players, coaches or managers.