Respect

When Alexander Mitrovic manhandled the referee during an angry confrontation in front of the cameras, the spectre of abusive behaviour towards referees once again reared its ugly head. What should have been a televisual feast of football — an occasion to inspire youngsters up and down the country — became another shameful indictment on the state of the game. Every...

A number of County FA’s observed a Silent Sidelines weekend this month in an attempt to improve the behaviour of coaches and spectators at grassroots youth football matches. Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire’s FAs both held a “Respect Weekend” that involved strict guidelines on what coaches and spectators could do during matches — and by all accounts the initiative was a complete...

In this age of billionaire owners and multi-millionaire players, football is being accused of losing its identity with increasing frequency. Young people can’t access quality coaching, fans can’t afford to attend top-flight games and the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen. But the essence of the beautiful game never changes. Football has the power to bring people...

Earlier this year a non-binding vote of no confidence in the House of Commons sent a clear message to the Football Association: reform, or we’ll do it for you. While this wasn’t the first time the game’s governing body has come to blows with the UK government, the unprecedented step of threatening legislation will have reverberated down the corridors of...

The level of abuse being aimed at football officials up and down the country has been growing for some time. While the FA’s Respect campaign has succeeded in tackling the issue up to a point, there still remains a major problem. Our referees at the grassroots level are pretty much on their own every Saturday and Sunday morning. Without the...

Young referee Ryan Hampson finally gave bad behaviour at local football matches the red card this month when he led a strike in protest against the abuse being directed to match officials. The inspirational 18-year-old persuaded more than 2,000 of his colleagues to join him in his protest. For too long, referees officiating on playing fields and municipal pitches up...

The behaviour of some players and parents in grassroots football has been a major cause of concern for many years now. But over the last decade or so, the situation at youth level seems to have become worse — despite the existence of the FA’s Respect campaign. So bad has the problem become, grassroots referees were planning to strike on...

The presence of parents at youth football matches and training sessions has been adivisive issue for many years. On one hand, mothers and fathers can give kids the motivation, sense of achievement and confidence that are crucial to player development. However, all too often parents allow their enthusiasm to boil over into interference, abuse, and on some occasions, violence. You can...