Who’d be a football ref when even kids are up for a ruck?

Watching his son’s first school match, Will Gore intervenes to prevent a melee

Whistleblower: the culture of abuse towards referees and their assistants is hardly new (Getty/iStock)

Stories about grassroots football referees being outrageously abused come along almost as often as Conservative Party leadership contests.

Just a week ago, the Merseyside Youth League cancelled all fixtures in protest at numerous instances of “inappropriate and threatening” behaviour towards officials. Football Association disciplinary reports for last season highlighted a multitude of appalling examples of attacks on referees, mostly by adult players and coaches, but also by parents during children’s matches – and even by the kids themselves. Incidents range from expletive-ridden berating from the sidelines, to significant assaults. It’s even worse to be a ref at a local football match than it is to be a Tory MP trying to vote against the whip on fracking.

The culture of abuse towards referees and their assistants is hardly new. When I went regularly to watch Cambridge United as a child, not a game would pass without some sort of rebuke from the stands. It wasn’t very original stuff, “Where are your glasses ref?” and “Oi ref, you’re a f***ing cheat!” was about as insightful as it got.