I can say from experience that the FA does nothing to help young officials. I was threatened by a club with a reputation for violence when I was 16. I reported what happened to my local FA and their response? The club saw no sanctions and I was pulled from all games for 6 months. I got punished for being threatened.

Used to be a referee myself at the age of 16/17. The insults and abuse you’re getting from people for making a wrong call just isn’t worth it. I believe this is a global problem.

My brother is a referee in Belgium, he started two years ago and is now 17 years old. I played football myself until i was 15 in a smaller youth league and i remember my dad and several other parents from my teammates shouting at the referee for almost every foul against us. I didn't think so much of it as it seemed to be a normal thing in every game. I wasn't taught a ref was out there to disadvantage a team, but that was the vibe around the field. Referees seemed unqualified, but in fact they weren't. We just thought they were from a young age (6-15), the ages where you take up most info in your life for your future personality and habits. When i grew a little older i started to do the same when watching a match, the referee wasn't a human being, he was almost an object. A troublemaker standing in the way of my team winning in a lot of matches. Everything changed from the moment my brother started refereeing. The ref finally became a person. I went to his third match as i needed to pick him up after the game. I was stunned. Only 4 minutes into the game, he whistled for the first time. A clear foul (in my opinion even a yellow) just outside the penalty area. The things the parents said on the sideline were shocking. No one blaming the player for clearly charging in on an opponent from behind. I'll list some of the things said on the sideline to paint the picture (translated to English): - Here we go again - I heard this referee was born with a whistle in his throat. - Ref, gonna be a long match if you keep on like this - (insult i don't know in English), you have a license? - ... All this for a clear foul. In my opinion my brother officiated a good match, he made some small mistakes. But if you compared his level of refereeing to the level at which these teams were playing, it was shocking my brother was the topic in the canteen after the match. Almost no one talked about the performance of the team. I hate to go watch him just for the abuse i experience on the sidelines. He is a strong character and says he doesn't bother with it, something i wouldn't be able to do. He also said that in a small crowd he can hear every single abusive line a person says, which hurts him sometime as it can get really personal. My brother battled with anorexia. He heard people shout: 'skeleton', 'zombie', etc. To conclude this long story: Imagine yourself being at work with 40 people standing next to you watching every move. Everytime you made a decision, wrong OR EVEN RIGHT, they shout obscenities at you. But even better: Let your son, daughter, brother, father, etc. referee a sunday league match and stand in the crowd. Your vision on referees will change in an instant. Thank you for everyone reading this shit through :p

I trained at like 15. Pay isn't worth it. Parents are irritating and travel isn't covered which makes it pretty difficult.

As the captain of amateur team, I always make an effort to shake the hands ref before and after the game and make sure no one on my team yells at the ref (not always easy). Refs love the game just like the players.

Essay here: I started at 14 back in 2011, I remember my first “big appointment” for a junior official, a county cup match (U11’s). I was so happy to be involved but ended up having the parents of the away team giving me death threats as the lost after extra time. Parents found out where I lived and were shouting it to each other “to organise a lynching.” I ended up being shielded by the home team for over an hour. I kept going and got pretty far, but quit 2 years ago as the abuse every game was unreal, the last match I did ended up being cornered by a few player who threatened to rape me for it. And the punishment both incidents got? A written reminder of the expected behaviours of the game. I have zero faith in the FA as the really don’t seem to care.

Hi Everyone, I am a rugby referee and I can tell you the difference and why I wouldn't referee football. It might highlight some areas in which football can learn from rugby. My first point is that abuse of referees from players is close to non existent because of the on field sanctions. Shouting for something to saying "f**k sake ref" can result in a penalty. Repeated again and the player is likely to be sin binned or red carded depending on the severity of the offence. Example if you look up Dylan Hartley (England captain at the time) his red card in the premiership final. He said "f**king cheat" in the referees direction and was promptly sent off in the seasons biggest game. IN my opinion that is the way it should be and the FA would do well to advise football referees to take a tough stance and then back them when they do. The second point is on sideline abuse, this includes substitutes, staff and fans. I live in Scotland and the SRU use a system called "whotheref" to fixture games and report scores. Also inside this system is a reporting tool for abuse from the sidelines. Once reported there is a hearing with the club and having signed up each year a first offence come with a 4 figure fine. This is enough of a deterrent for most clubs to stop staff or fans from abusing referees. I have been abused by staff and once reminded of this reporting tool the abuse has stopped and has always been followed by an apology post game. This heavy handed approach works too with fans in bigger clubs where a member of the club usually reminds fans of their responsibilities and the damage their abuse of the referee can have on the club. My third point is the support network. I cannot comment on this aspect from a football perspective but i can advise from the rugby perspective. We have monthly meetings, assessments, mentors and regular training and pathways to progress open to everyone. We also get a generous travel expenses and are widely welcomed and given feedback by senior members of both clubs and referees. Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble but if anyone would like to ask any questions ask away :)

The issue isn’t recruitment, it is retention. I was a very young referee who was given no support or opportunity for development. Instead, I was left isolated to deal with people triple my age hurling abuse. The children themselves were always respectful, it was parents and coaches that were often the issue.

I personally think that football should look at rugby and the way the grass roots are ingrained to respect the officials. It's the only way that you can change the culture around football referees for the future. In game penalties for abusing the referee like moving free kicks further up the field might be a good way to inforce this

Before being born, I originally appeared on The Athletic.

Historians have recently discovered that life on Earth didn't really start in the oceans, but actually originally appeared in the Athletic

Never thought I'd see 'Hide The Pain Harold' in a Tifo video

All team sports have this huge problem: parents live vicariously through their children and think they can boss about the refs and coordinators. Entitlement through the roof.

I'm a basketball official in the USA and have quit doing any youth games. The parents are just awful and it isn't worth losing my weekend to get yelled for $25/game

These referees originally appeared in the athletic

I did a paper on this at uni and concluded that it’s largely a result of academies and clubs remarketing themselves as elite pathways instead of social clubs and thereby changing the culture at amateur level to one of competitiveness and results-based. Parents now expect clubs to be a pathway to professionalism and therefore react negatively to anything that hinders their kid’s opportunity, particularly results. The culture is now toxic and it is not just referees being impacted but also coaches who don’t play a player enough or don’t win enough.

I completed my referee course when I was 14. I lasted about 2 years before quitting. I often couldn’t travel to games and when I was able to get a lift, the abuse wasn’t worth it, being told to ‘F*** off you blind t**t’ by a player and that players parent actually adding further insults instead of admonishing them made it totally unpalatable. I was 16 at the time and this was 15 years ago.

Well as a referee in youth categories, I've learnt to live with the abuse on the field. I know that when I'm about to referee a game, I'll be in a hostile zone with arrogant players, frustrated managers, and angry parents, who all think they would do a better job while drinking their beer in the stands. Sadly, it is the reality of football, and very few people actually care about our job, but I still love refereeing and I'll keep doing it whatsoever.

I have been a soccer referee here in New Mexico for twelve years. The amount of abuse is fucking unacceptable.. I do not tolerate players, coaches or spectators abusing me or my assistants. I threw out a principle of one of the biggest high schools, and I was sanctioned not the principle. I have quit high school officiating I only referee amateur adult and amateur kid's games.

I think at grassroots level, there should be "parents free" days so that referees can get on without fear of being abused from the sidelines.

I'm a ref at 17 (nearly 18) and we have to wear a yellow armband in our county FA to spread awareness about u18 abuse. I think their needs to be more guidance and more available courses for progression up the refereeing ladder.

I’m happy our community/rec league has been supporting the refs for many years by: 1) Not tolerating any abuse towards refs from parents and coaches. (We crack down on them if it’s towards the ref or not. No room for that type of behaviour) 2) Let the referees caution and send off coaches and also let them kick parents out. 3) Pay them them well enough above minimum wage so the appeal is better. 4) Offer as much mentoring and training support as possible. So many sports here (I’m from Canada) have so much abuse for their refs and who could blame a kid for not wanting that.

Do British amatuer league crowds chase the ref into a corn field to beat him, or wait for him to come out from the locker room while saying: "come on ref, come out so we can do you. We haven't got all day, cause we had to get up early next morning, and go to work." ? Just because, these things happens to lower league refs in Hungary :D

As a Ref myself, I think the saddest thing is how I and everyone else just has to accept the abuse as part of the job. The thing I've learned to think about is whether their criticism is valid. If it is, then there is something I can build on and get better with, and if it isn't, I can disregard it. The abuse they shout is not only out of place, its also often misguided and incorrect.

Abused referee should stop the match, give his cards and whistle to the guy who yelled the most and say: "Here, you do it if you think it is so easy"

Incoming The Athletic Memes boi

3:05 lmao is that hide the pain Harold?!!

2:59 Hide the Pain Harold!!!

Was a youth referee from 16-20 and found an excellent way of tackling the problems head on was to introduce myself to the parents before the match, explain that I am stuck in the middle of the pitch and they would have a much better view of 90% of the fouls / challenges but I can only give what I see, based on how it looks from my point of view. Doing this made those watching understand I was only human and kept any abuse to a minimum. Admittedly it not the easiest thing and you do still hear some abuse but when passions are running high every little helps.

I’m proud to say I’m a referee, Category 7 SFA.

I have been officiating for the last 20 years here in Canada and realized that refereeing is a rewarding second career. The insults and abuse you receive from parents in youth games, and online by keyboard warriors needs to be taken more seriously by Football Associations are the world. This attacking of referees in just not in the UK but all over Europe, North.South America and Oceania. Thank you for creating the video to Matt Slater's well-written article in The Athletic. Love seeing more officiating articles in the Athletic.

OMG, tifo referincing Mr. Robot and Evil Corp is something I never knew I wanted, but makes so much sense..I love it!!!

Reading through these comments is a depressing insight into how grassroots football is. Unfortunately I had similar experiences when I refereed football between 2005-2012. I was threatened by players in the changing rooms after games on several occasions in the men's leagues, as a 16/17 year old lad it was quite a difficult thing to take in. The final straw was when I had to be escorted out of an under 10's game of football as one of the parents who I had sent away from the game for screaming abuse at one of the oppositions players (a ten year old...) was waiting in the car park for me after the game. FA gave the club a small fine. What a huge deterrent...

Who noticed the Mr. Robot reference 3:54? Mad respect for Tifo

In my opinion there’s a simple solution to this, any abuse of an official, verbal or physical, results in a lifetime ban on attending non-professional games, or a year if the offender is under 16.

Any referee that has integrity probably wants to go to a league that has some integrity as well. Why would anyone want to be a yes man for the FA?

Very nice video, I have never thought to be in the "opposite side of the game". In addition to your video I believe that with the introduction of VAR, fans are more likely to find someone to get angry with, because you can't blame a machine. Then I admit the rules about how and when using Var sometimes are vague and not clear yet (I'm Italian and serie A is getting worse from this point of view), but I really believe that some people need to have someone to blame for their team's defeat.

Also the assessment and promotion system is flawed and full of nepotism and brown nosing

3:53 Mr Robot reference? Me likey

Someone needs to do a skit where a player misses a pass/shot on goal and his own teammates start crowding round and screaming at him, shouting "what the eff he's playing at", demanding he be sent off etc. - it then cuts to a referee stood there with a brew, sips, looks at the camera and just says "it's not much fun when it's you, is it?". For added irony, you could then repeat the entire skit exactly, only this time the player makes the pass/shot.

I've been playing senior level amateur or Sunday league football for the last 10 or so years, and I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would choose to be a referee. I'm extremely grateful that some do, but the amount of abuse they get on a regular basis is unbelievable.

We have many similarities in the US system. Overall I had a good experience reffing. Easy money.

This is a part of football which almost no one knows

I qualified when I was 14 and am now a 20 year old level 4. Many times I have considered stopping refereeing altogether simply because of the lack of support from the FA, and the system setup as a whole. The fundamental problem from my experiences lie within the grassroots Sunday game. It is here, where a referee is alone with no assistants to help them that they can become targeted and subject to most abuse. Thankfully I stuck through to the point where I am now refereeing at a level that guarantees I will have assistants and most often an observer too, in a much more organised and professional setup. If the FA doesn't take more proactive steps (like sin bins which have been good) then grassroots football will fail through a fundamental lack of referees willingness.

Why is this titled referees in the UK when all they referenced was about England? No mention of the Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish FA's or their referee statistics

I can say as a ref in Australia the abuse is prevelant but thats not the problem for you to progress and move higher they want you to give up football and focus on reffing I love the game and thats why I began to ref but I cannot stop playing its so important to me and due to this I’ve been pushed aside as I’m not willing to soley focus on reffing

I was a referee when I was 16 and ended up sending off the away coach after 10 minutes in my first game😂

In the USA I love my job. It’s a good job for young people. We are super young (14 yo) and we were names best referees in the region and one of the best in groups in the US. we are abused and screamed at all the time, but we love it. Everything I’m the video is right, they are terrible to us be we love it. I work with 2000 referees right now in my club and although we take a lot of shit, we love our jobs.

I was a ref for the early part of this century, before a car accident left me unable to run. Here’s my two penneth. Reffing at local level is shit. Doing kids football is ok, and I used to have an easy way to shut the loud mouthed parents and coaches up, I just embarrassed them. 'You’re really saying that in front of your child and their mates?, grow up' kind of thing. Adult local football was horrible. Sunday morning adult football even worse. You feel so isolated as one person against everyone else, the team, their coaches, their fans. I stopped doing that within about 3 years. The best thing we had was the local league team's youth academy, which at that time was part of the premier league academy. Up to the U15 teams you could referee the games and at U16 you could run the line. We used it as a kind of mentoring system for new and young refs, in a controlled and supportive environment. We would even share games, doing a half each and spending the other half evaluating each other's performance. Plus we got to watch the best young players from Chelsea, Arsenal and so on and also get to watch and listen to the best youth coaches, which was an amazing experience. Also, the youth team players are so well behaved so it was always enjoyable to ref the matches. For me there is a problem in how fast refs can progress. If you are reffing when a teenager you haven’t played enough of the game to have a good enough understanding, but if you wait until you are 30, which I did, you are too old to take the career anywhere.

Before even watching the video, parents, coaches and players at any level is the answer.

I honestly think all players once they retire should have 5-10 years as a referee, assistant ref, linesman/woman, VAR assistant etc... it should be part of the contract they sign at their clubs and the club should pay for their qualification as soon as they join the club. This means that players learn abut refereeing rules and regulations asap and can understand why referees can get decisions wrong- and this should be *COMPULSORY ACROSS ALL LEAGUES NO MATTER WHAT LEAGUE YOU ARE IN OR SEX/GENDER YOU ARE!* As for young refs etc, I think they should be encouraged and if they make a mistake it's a mistake- people just need to acknowledge that young refs make mistakes and errors and therefore that should be a time when you encourage them to learn rather than degrade them especially if they are in their teens/early 20s. Refs get too much abuse- if anything they need constructive criticism rather than destroying their morale. And personally VAR should be more like TMO so then the ref gets all aspects of it and there should be a version of TMO across all 4 major domestic leagues. I also think there should also be body cameras so we know it from their viewpoint and should be compulsory across all levels. If we work together and encourage rather than destroy their self-belief then refs will get more credit and praise than the players will ever deserve. And as of death threats and all that should be treated like they are in any other job- with a criminal record and imprisonment for life.

Absolutely love the subtle references you guys put in your videos. Harold E Corp, Is good but can be better meme

Been a reff in Australia for 10 years. People tend to keep tame around me because of my appearance but I still get my fair share of abuse. Pay is totally worth it for a weekend hobby. 400 Aussie bucks a weekend or the equivalent of around 200 quid

I lost it when "Hide the pain Harold" appeared at 2:58

I have been a linesman and refereed in the lower leagues of Australia and have been abused almost every game. The abuses specially from parents unbelievable, I have had racist and homophobic slurs thrown at me regularly by grown adults

I quit as a referee, you get so much shit that it's just not worth it. I'm not giving up 2 hours of my day off (or more if I have to travel) to be sworn at, spat at, physically threatened or worse. I know refs who have been attacked after matches. I don't care about not being paid much, I reffed for the love of the game, but it's hard to love the game when all you get is grief for trying to help - you literally can't have a proper match without a referee. It's also hard to learn and become a better ref when any mistake leads to people jumping down your throat, the pressure is ridiculous. The FA don't want to hear any complaints, the due process is awful. I'm glad I quit and I won't be returning unless major changes happened.

I got some abuse when refereeing a school match between 10-11 year olds. In fact, this video could almost be redone exactly the same with 'referees' replaced with 'teachers'. Experience isn't able to be built up because the drop out rate is too high.

As much as I'll hate on a Ref for calling something against my team, I also understand that they're just people doing their job. I don't personally hate them, I just want my team to win. I'd never incite violence against them though, that shits too far. Unless it's VAR.

2:59 hide the pain ref

The Mr Robot Evil Corp reference was dope... and originally appeared on The Athletic

Was not expecting to see a ticket for little old Argo in the first scene

In my experience, it is not the top of the game that that you look for these types of problems.

You guys should really do a video on Markus Rosenberg and his impact on Malmö FF. His play has given the team a economic dominance in Sweden.

I qualified when I was 14 (now 22) and whilst I grew so much in terms of my character and abillity through it, the abuse you get and the loneliness of being the only one out there (unless you push to promotion in higher leagues but that takes years) is definitely a hardening experience. I think that the FA has gotten better at supporting referees when conflict arises however there needs to be more patience and support for referees who make mistakes, especially those who are young need patient guidance. I've given regular league refereeing a break for a few years and I may take it up again to earn some extra money but the prospect of starting it all again at competitive levels makes me nervous for the hatrid from people that comes with it. Overall, I do still love refereeing, but I dread the games that I know will come where everyone turns on you. My Dad used to watch me referee, but someone once almost punched him after a dificult game I refereed, and since then I haven't wanted him to in case something happens. He also can't bear to see the way people speak to/about me at too many of these games. On the plus side though, i got to referee at The Valley and also at a local charity game for a young guy who passed away which was attended by 1500 local people which was a wonderful event. So there were good times too.

The solution is changing the culture in the PL. If fans see players surrounding and abusing Refs there, then they will do exactly the same on a Sunday morning, but just take it a few steps further. Refs in the PL need to be given the authority and backing to "ruin" games for a season or two by sending off multiple players who keep getting in their faces when a decision goes against them, only the captain should be able to calmly and respectfully talk with the referee about a decision he has made, if anyone else does, it's a yellow card, players will soon get the message. The reason this won't happen, and it is understandable, is that a whole season might be wrecked by a confetti of yellow cards changing results, but it must be done, otherwise we get 19 year old kids getting beaten up in a car park for awarding a penalty against a team that disagreed with it.

“...or even life.” If you hit a ref, that’s it. You should be prosecuted and never allowed to play again.

Love the Mr Robot reference on the shirt sponsor

3:00 Hide the pain Harold?

... because being a football hooligan is more fun. Referees don't make lifelong friends. And unless he's working for the bookmakers, nobody at the bar says _"I'll like to buy that ref a beer."_

Im a grassroots referee, i was 15 and getting awful abuse with a man even starting on me because i didnt give a few decisions his teams way

I'm from Romania and i was a ref when i was 16-18. I can confirm what the other guys from all over the world are saying : there's no pay, the local FAs always take the side of the clubs, threats or actual violence against refs are seen as "part of the game" in most rural places and so on. I was an assistant ref mostly, and in one Cup game i had a car driving up and down the sideline not more than 2 meters away from me at any point. I was flat out told they'd run me over if i don't "do a proper job". Another time there was the village cowboy (which is almost like a hobo here, nothing like the US) crack his whip close my feet the entire game, also to make sure i "do my job properly". By FIFA law there has to be police protection at any official competitive match, but i've seen more than once the local police joining the players/peasants in beating the ref. I'm talking about games with at least a couple of hundred people in the stands, not amateur league.

I wanted to be a referee and I’m 20 this year. Sadly I can’t because my State FA isn’t doing anything to recruit new referee. Every time I heard of it, the application is closed.

As a player for many years at youth level now I see how much hassle referees get from our opponents as we were always brought up as a squad to respect the officials and be polite to them and not once was anything ever reported when a referee was assaulted or had other issues during a game through fear the FA is shocking at handling situations like that and just hide away using stats that arnt actually true

Been a ref in Italy for a decade and in the UK for 3 years, applied for 5 to 4 promotion but didn't make it. The level of abuse a ref gets in the UK is quite serious. I could have never imagined the lack of respect towards refs to be less in the UK with respect to Italy. Also, there is lack of development and training, the support structure just isn't there. The pay is quite low too...

This comment originally appeared on the athletic

This guy has the best voice on KZfaq.

Silky smooth voice Mr Devine, now I want a podcast

I wonder whether anything has changed in the 2 years since this video was made? I personally think if the FA took accountability of protecting refs from threats and violence seriously but also disciplining them seriously when mistakes are made then this problem would be reduced massively. I can’t say much for the amateur and semi professional game, but 3 decisions this weekend in the PL that were so obviously incorrect, and not even VAR caught them and overturned them.

I just tune out the background noise when I'm refereeing. It becomes just a constant wall of noise after a while.

Referees need bodycams. It would help stop so many problems before they even start. America has the UK completely beat with the referee system. Shockingly enough we actually do something about physical abuse, more than likely the coach will be banned from the complex if not kicked out of the club BY THE CLUB. Verbal abuse is also taken very seriously. Parents are basically out of everyone's control as we can't punish them for speaking however we as referees can abandon the match. Unfortunately, that also punishes the team's playing. Every referee aside from those who referee for PRO also wears the same uniform and grade isn't shown on badges only the year. Unfortunately, we have many terrible referees who don't do enough during the match but rarely do we lose referees because of parents or coaches or players. Most of the youth referees are players themselves and many of the youth matches are refereed by referees under the age of 18. If you read all of this congratulations, you now know a goalkeeper and referee's insight into the US Soccer Referee Program. Sorry for the long-winded comment.

The athletic originally appeared on this story

0:25 I’m surprised Plymouth made it on to something

Lack of respect, lack of common courtesy, lack of civility and lack of values but also lack of moral fibre in the larger community.. The moral decay we've been warned so often about is finally here and this is one particularly short sighted and self defeating form of it.

Once playing in a local 6v6 game some guy 20yo straight up walked out of the bench and punched the 60+ yo referee on the nose and left, the poor guy was bleeding and crying on the floor and I stopped seeing him after that game. Respect them they are only trying to help you enjoy your game

The UK has CCTV everywhere but you can’t have referee body cameras? Bullshit.

One time, a Father was obset and cryed the hole game, how bad my refereeing was. Short after the start of the second half, I got to him and told him, that only good players get good referees, so may his sone is not good enough. He was a little bit quiter after this. But this was in Germany, and in handball. I have no idea how football has any referees.

Probably this starts at the top of the game. If the players in the premiership start showing some respect to the ref, then it would maybe trickle down. Managers need to be included in this.

3:55 evil corp

I would expect the main reason is the abuse from parents. Some people are twats when their kids are involved.

My dad used to be a referee, for youth games. One day, a parent told him they hoped he got cancer, and my dad decided he was done, and quit after that match.

I volunteered to ref at U9 U8 at my team, i was 15 and faced abuse, it's not nice when a middle aged man confronts you about your skills as a ref. The kids were fine, the parents were not.

I reffed for a bit. In a U10s pre season game I had an incident occur where by the letter of the Law I should have issued a Red Card. Instead I had a word with the Kid's coach and asked him to sub him off instead so there would be no cards, fines or suspension. The Kid's Dad said he'd be waiting in the car park for me afterwards. At Sunday League level lad culture is just ruining the game. For what is essentially organised recreational football the behaviour of many players is just toxic.

Before I watch the video I must comment: It's not just in the UK, in Malta this is also a problem and they (The MFA) import foreign refs.

In the Netherlands we have the same kind of problem. Here they dont even make a 6 figure salary and most of them have jobs on the side. And the amount of times a referee has been killed or put in the hospital is disgraceful. All of them on amateur level.

I've reffed and coached both youth and adult level. When i coached adults i made it patently clear, any abuse to the ref/officials would not be tolerated and the club would support the officials in EVERY instance. I worked with both mens and womens sides and found this worked. If a player wanted to be a cock they went to another club...not ours. Our reputations were phenomenal and we won fair play awards. When i coached the youth game i was lucky that the clubs had good systems in place to support refs. We had one incident involving one of the parents, as coach of his sons team i took him to one side. He wasn't expecting it from his lads own club and was a different guy from then on. Sometimes even helping set up before matches. Reality checks work. One thing that would go some way towards changing attitudes is ALL clubs must have a qualified ref on the books for every team they have. See how quickly attitudes change then.

They should learn from Rugby, the Refs commands respect. There's a reason why they called Rugby is a hooligans game played by gentlemen.

It's a vicious cycle. The public complain endlessly about referees, meaning fewer people go into refereeing because it's a thankless job, there then isn't enough competition to keep the standards consistently high, and then we get more complaining about referees.

Over enthusiastic parents, abusive coaches, abusive players.. take your pick!

People need to start understanding that sunday league football is irrelevant- it’s supposed to be a bit of fun for kids, or a bit of exercise. instead Parents and Coaches often can be seen screaming at young kids playing and reffing. There is a baffling level of seriousness among ‘supporters’ for what frankly is a shit standard of football that has no real significance

You know refs are fuck, when they have a Ref Support Charity 😂