In an effort to rid football referees of the fear of intimidation at all levels in the sport the Football Association are set to introduce a new rule at the beginning of next season which will only allow team captains to approach the referee over a disputed decision.
The Premiership begins on August sixteenth and it is expected that, apart from a few minor tweaks, the rule will be in force then. The new rule, however, will apply to all levels in the game from the very highest competitions to school matches.
Don’t think its necessary? Try attending school boy games where there are often as many disputed decisions as in the top flight.
The rule, the FA hopes, will mean an end to groups of yelling, screaming players haranguing refs for decisions that they don’t agree with.
Currently there are over 40000 registered football teams in the UK but only 30000 qualified referees. This amounts to a shortage but no matter what moves the FA takes to try to reduce the shortage they fail, mainly due to the fact that for all the new referees that are trained annually at least as many give up every year.
The reasons are simple. By and large referees are unwilling to put up with the levels of abuse and often physical intimidation that are handed out by players, spectators and parents.
Parents are often the worst, disagreeing violently with referees’ decisions which deprive their beloved child of a free kick or a goal or whatever!
Parents and other spectators will be asked to stand in roped off areas .Additionally players and managers at all levels of the game will be subject to harsher penalties than currently.
This is part of the FA’s respect agenda to restore some sort of order to the beautiful game, a game which is turning ever more ugly due to mass dissent by players.
I, for one hope that the FA stands by any measures-it is time that football players, premiership players in particular, acted as role models both for young players and for youth in general.
If young players see their idols behaving like spoiled children is it any wonder that the schoolboy game is subject to protests and arguments which mirror the premiership.
From August only the captain will be able to communicate with the referee and any protest will go through one person. This will add to the influence of the captain on the pitch and prevent the type of mass hysteria practiced by Chelsea and other teams in the premiership.
Lets hope it works.
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