‘New’ football highlights lack of respect to officials
HAVING watched and been involved in so many games of football during lockdown, a couple of things immediately spring to mind.
One is the most blindingly obvious thing you will have heard this year, it’s very quiet. I have spoken to a couple of players in different leagues recently and they were both consistent in their belief that no fans makes it much more difficult as the home team and much better as the away team. A lack of support at home can make it feel so much like a practice game, it’s incredible
The second is a contradiction of the first, the noise coming from players and staff is incredible.
There have been several pundits each week apologising for the language used by staff and/or players, the microphones pitchside have an uncanny knack of picking up really timely tactical information.
It does come with the territory a bit, though, whether its football, rugby, or cricket. There is a fair amount of input, or should I say output, coming in from all angles.
Players, staff, officials, groundsman, staff in the stands - you can hear the lot. I think the fourth officials’ life in football has become even more unenviable, he comes in for a peppering at the best of times, but now with it being so quiet and eerie, everything comes back to that man, the poor bloke tasked with taking all the grief from 22 players and 15-20 staff.
This is partly why I raised this topic this week. Official bashing, referee bashing, the ‘lino’ getting the offside shout wrong. This, as I said, is all part of the territory, but should it be? No is the answer, absolutely not.
I have to ask the question what comes first, the respect to the officials from staff and players, or zero tolerance from the officials to stop this near constant whining about every single decision?
Now, I will be the first to admit that, as a player, I wasn’t backward in coming forwards, and I could occasionally let rip to the man or men in black, but the more conversations I had with officials before a game, mainly as a captain, the more I respected what a tough job and what an important job they have.
It’s entirely different as a coach and certainly as a manager. The pressure is tenfold.
When myself and Graham Coughlan took over the job at Bristol Rovers a year or so ago, I used to hand the team sheets in pre-match and I would occasionally accidently turn the lights off in the officials room.
I would either joke that I wanted every decision, or that I didn’t want keeping in the dark (boom boom) or sometimes I would just bump into a few staff and officials and turn the lights back on. I suppose I was just trying to relax someone who I felt might need it!
I know that referees for sure like a bit of a challenge, a bit of test, they like taking some and they like giving some back, but I have to say that seeing the man in the middle absolutely hunted down and harassed for every and any controversial decision – and I am talking about top level football here, football seen by millions of fans – seeing players literally sprinting to confront the referee face to face, it has got to stop. We are honestly creating a culture where young lads think it’s acceptable to abuse the referee, and for what? For nothing, for trying to officiate a game of football.
You have twenty stone, 6ft 7 inch rugby boys who wouldn’t say boo to a goose for any decision. And yet the pure petulance and immaturity shown by some football players is actually funny, it’s like they are still kids.
I know it’s hard to control the emotion in the heat of the battle, and I know that there are vast cultural differences and on field pressures between rugby and football, but we HAVE to give a better example to our younger generation.
What’s the answer, it’s simple, any player that absolutely abuses the referee or fourth official, or linesman, off you go son, sin bin, calm down for ten minutes, or if it’s bad enough abuse, straight red. And please believe me when I say respect has to be shown the other way as well.
I have, as a manger, tried to approach a referee to simply ask a question at half time, no language used, no aggression, result? I was sent off.
I suppose what we are saying here is a bit more respect all round. For the love of the game, and for the reputation of players that are in the main top lads who are giving it everything to achieve something in their careers, we have to make a collective effort not to surround the men or women in black, and to create a culture where we are setting a better example to our younger players, whether they are playing at Manchester United or at the local park.