Banishing the bile Death threats, AI, prosecutions: how should we stop abuse of referees?

'Szymon Marciniak you son of a whore". "Don't come to Germany for your safety." "How much money did you get?" "FUCK YOU MARCINIAK YOU DISGUSTING BASTARD #RMAFCB." This is a snapshot of X and Instagram after Bayern Munich crashed out of the Champions League last week.

- Sean Ingle

Marciniak's crime? Blowing for offside too early, which meant that a possible Matthijs de Ligt equaliser could not be reviewed by the VAR. Even a freeze-frame image could not confirm whether De Ligt was onside or not.

But that didn't stop Bayern's manager, Thomas Tuchel, saying the referee's decision "felt like a betrayal" - or the bile on social media. Really though, this could have been any sport, in any language, on any given day. This is the way we live now.

That much was clear listening to Wayne Barnes, who refereed the 2023 Rugby World Cup final, talk almost prosaically a few days ago about the chilling threats he had received to his life, wife and kids for merely doing his job. "As referees we don't mind getting criticised," he told Sport Resolutions' annual conference. "But on the back of the Rugby World Cup there were threats of sexual violence to my wife, threats of violence against my children. And you're like, is that really what sport is about?" It's not much better at grassroots level. As a senior tennis official, Andrew Nicholas-Wynne told the conference abuse from parents at junior events is now so bad that Tennis Australia has started giving umpires body cameras. Meanwhile Mike Riley, the former Premier League referee, pointed to the consequences. "Three years ago, we had 280,000 referees across Europe," he said. "Now we have 240,000 and we are haemorrhaging referees at the rate of 20% a year."