LET'S GIVE REF ABUSEI THE RED CARD

CALLUM HUMPHREY TAKES A LOOK AT AN ISSUE THAT'S A BLIGHT ON OUR GAME...

- CALLUM HUMPHREY

THE topic of referee abuse seems to be one that is talked about an awful lot.

The sight of players, frustration probably at their own failures more than that of an official, boiling over, surrounding the referee and showering him with expletives left, right and centre has become all too normal.

So normal in fact that it’s now seen as a display of passion, admirable as they clearly truly care for the fortune of their team. Fighting for the badge, they say.

At what point does this ‘fighting’ become illegal? It’s a question that no one, not least the referees themselves, seems capable of answering.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) chief Howard Webb recently ordered a crackdown on dissent, with yellow cards dished out like warm greetings at a celebratory event.

Incidents of such dissent leading to a referee taking down a player’s name in their books have more than trebled in the 202324 season to date, but what difference has this really made? Is this really the only answer to tackling this deadly disease slowly leaking down the pyramid, into grassroots and youth football?

The announcement of wider trials of the ‘blue card’ system in professional football was quickly washed away with mockery and anger. The rugby-like sin-bin punishment was laughed at by the traditionalists.

The idea of a player guilty of taking their conversations with the official too far or committing a ‘tactical foul’, a separate issue supposedly to be fixed by this scheme, suffering a ten-minute break was deemed silly.