The Men in Black – Who would want to be a referee?

From the Premier League to Sunday league, from Manchester United to your local pub team, referees are facing abuse at every level of football. What do they deal with? How will it be stopped? 

Professional referee Geoff Eltrigham believes that less and less people are wanting to become referees in 2025, to the point where there will be a nationwide shortage. The abuse of match officials from school fields to The Football League, what is it like to be hated by everyone despite being the only reason the game can be played?

 

“I was Knocked out, and it was one of the supporters” Championship official Eltrigham has been an official from the bottom of the pyramid to the top, taking games in the Championship Play-Offs and The FA Youth Cup final, However, he believes he may be part of a dying breed.

 

Eltrigham has refereed at every level of football, starting at local under13s games working his way up the non-league ladder to the football league. He has experience of how people treat referees at every level of football:

 

“I found it really hard in kids football, from the side-lines, what they would say to you after a game, what they’d say to you during the game. And it was hard enough trying, as a newly qualified young referee, trying to control what was going on the pitch, and then having to deal with what was going on the side-line.”

 

The abuse towards Eltrigham went from verbal, to physical:

 

“I remember refereeing an under13s game, forget who they were, weren’t particularly happy with some of the things that went on. Snapped my flag on the side-line and literally had to make a dash to the car at the end of the game to get away from it.”

 

From snapping his property, to actually physically hurting him:

 

“I was doing an FA Sunday cup game; I was a conference referee at the time. There was a lot going on in the game. At the final whistle, walking back up the stairs at Eppleton to the changing room, I just felt something hit me on the back of the head. I was Knocked out, and it was one of the supporters who had assaulted me.”

 

This nearly made Eltrigham quit refereeing, “I give it a bit of thought, give it a bit of time. and ultimately, I just came to the decision, why should I allow one thug to spoil something I love doing?

The FA have introduced ‘Sin-Bins’ to lower league football from Step 5 of the non-league pyramid (9 leagues below The Premier League) that means that any dissent towards the referee results in spending 10 minutes off of the pitch, without the ability to bring on a sub. This was introduced in March 2017 as there had been 73,00 cautions for dissent in the 2016/17 season. Resulting in a 38% reduction of cautions due to dissent.

Introduced eight years ago, is this system still working? Wearside League and Sunday League Daniel Maguire shares his experiences as the man in the middle:

 

“The worst thing that has happened to me was actually after the game when I got back to my car. I refereed a local derby in the Sunday League, the home team won 2-1, I think. After the game, one of the players followed me back to my car and started smacking the window and yelled abuse. Even after I drove off, he still tried to get at me.”

 

“I Love my refereeing, but I also understand why people don’t want to become one or why they stop. I think the abuse sometimes is worse in an unfamiliar environment, where the teams don’t know you well, or you just don’t get on with them.”

 

Despite the ‘Sin Bin’ coming into place nearly 10 years ago, Daniel, who uses the system every game, believes it is not punishment enough:

 

“I think longer suspensions for players and coaches would be a big help, with larger fines. Possibly even point deductions. I don’t think we would see an instant improvement but over time it would be likely.”

 

Eltrigham was in the same position as Maguire years ago, both are from Sunderland have refereed in the Wearside League, Eltrigham’s advice to aspiring referees, such as Maguire, to overcome these challenges is:

 

“I’ll say that to girls and boys now who are refereeing, just try and stick the first two years out. You know, you learn so much from it, you know, it’s, unfortunately, the Abuse isn’t a nice thing, but it does come with the territory, it comes with the job.”

 

“You know, we shouldn’t have to put up with it, we shouldn’t have to accept it, but you know, for a referee, that’s, we are going to be a little bit of a target. So, it’s just getting through them first couple of years and it does slightly become that little bit easier.”

 

Eltrigham’s words towards young referees will be helpful, however they shouldn’t be needed. Take away referees from the game, it would fall to pieces. If a player doesn’t turn up then there is someone waiting to be put in the team, if a referee doesn’t show up, there is no game.

Professional games played in England last season: 1,760

Turf Moor (Photo by Liam Caffry)

Professional games played without match officials, ever : 0