Sunday League referee ATTACKED by players; feared for safety with game abandoned

A Sunday League match sees a referee ATTACKED by an away team’s players and the official feared for his safety with the game abandoned.

@Refsupportuk revealed to their 7,100+ followers on Twitter about what had happened, and it produced a huge response with fans saddened by what they were reading.

While the names of the two teams who played in this fixture haven’t been named, the culprits has been caught on camera and there are calls for the Football Association to investigate.

@Refsupportuk wrote via social media: “Just received another video of a ref fearing for his own safety. He was surrounded by away team, ball kicked at him, hitting his head after abandoning the game. Spat at, threatened and racially abused all after a “dodgy throw in”

“The escalation of threats and violence is scary.

“We have already talked to the ref on the phone and are supporting him.

“The ref said ‘if it wasn’t for the home team protecting me, I genuinely feared for safety.’ We will release the video and the names of the clubs later after we have talked to ref some more. He is the priority at the moment.

“Huge praise for the Home team.”

Video 1. Ball thrown at ref by the keeper after the game is abandoned. https://t.co/jqwBuYH8Hf pic.twitter.com/9FITFjgOwp

— Refsupportuk (@refsupportuk) September 19, 2021

Video 2. Just another day in paradise. pic.twitter.com/wB0Jtf3aSW

— Refsupportuk (@refsupportuk) September 20, 2021

There was a huge amount of reaction as the Sunday League match sees a referee ATTACKED by players…

@formercoach79: Having to read week after week of referees being abused in junior football. Hopefully these ‘adults’ will give us their place of work so we can come and shout abuse at them if they make a mistake or a decision we don’t agree with! It’s not acceptable

@spuddy1878: “I’m not in your face” as he’s almost standing on the refs toes.

@rodi_ashley: I stopped doing Sunday refereeing this season due to the poor behaviour and most of my worst experiences as a referee happened on Sundays, I love my Saturdays and Midweek Refereeing but more needs to be done to stop this sort of behaviour happening. #NoRefNoGame #Respect

@RobbyRambler: And they wonder why there’s a shortage of referees 🙄

@TheRefereeForum: Such SDE on display 🙄 Fair play on the ref for keeping his cool.

@Rlacey18: I’ve continuously walked towards you shouting aggressively TELL ME HOW but I’m not in your face! What will @FARefereeing do??? A) fine player but give weak punishment b) not reach out to ref to check he’s ok c) both above d) nothing

@lord_dodds: It happens every week plastic hard men giving it the big one! Most dont even know the laws of the game when you try to explain why you gave a decision and itl never stop until @FARefereeing actually take an interest at grass roots

@Mick_Mack_78: This is why people like Neil Warnock and Lee Johnson fuck me off when unjustly criticising refs to deflect from their own failures. It’s seen by no-marks in shit Sunday pub leagues who think it’s fair game to go at amateur refs who, are more often than not, outnumbered by 22/1

@wanteditall: What a complete prat, believe he is the big man with everyone behind him! It’s idiots like this that is making less people referee, at that point idiots like him will have no game to play, but they are that stupid they don’t get it.

@87mhj: State of this. I did the ref course several years ago. Lasted about 4-5 games before a mass of abuse one Sunday and never did it again. Didn’t get a response to my email to the local ref management.
Can highly recommend to anyone who’s contemplating the course – don’t bother.

@mart_holliday: Why would anyone bother doing this? Grassroots refs fair game for angry men (flanked by mates), to vent a week’s worth of frustration and disappointment at. The grassroots game is slowly dying under the @fa.

@Adam_Clayton87: It’s actually ridiculous at this point! Hope the guy is OK!

@GaryCoomes: Don’t worry FA will give them a fifty quid fine payable to them. They not fit for purpose!! Pretend to want to end all forms of discrimination until they find a pro guilty of it and ban him for ten games

@lionel1664: Hope he’s ok and gets over this, shocking behaviour

@andygillespie91: Kick the team out the league. Ban all players involved for life

@Leedsmano94: Disgusting but sadly not surprising and no doubts the FA will do next to nothing as always

@MGK1684: Without referees there is no game. We all get frustrated, we all give it the pantomime villain bollocks, but there’s a definite line you just can’t cross. Players need to appreciate that officials are there to make sure the laws are applied, they make mistakes. They’re human

@owensirons93: @FA @FARefereeing when are you lot gonna do some work! You are going to end up destroying grassroots unless you start trying to help out with these issues! this means starting at the top and not allowing these players in the top leagues to do what they want! #EnoughIsEnough

ADVICE AND HELP

The FA say they recognise that there is under-reporting of incidents of discriminatory abuse in grassroots football and we encourage those who feel that they have experienced or witnessed discriminatory abuse to report it.

Anyone who believes they may have witnessed or been a victim of discrimination or abuse during a game is encouraged to report it to the referee immediately – you should also make your club aware and the police if you want. Use the contact details provided below to contact The FA or alternatively, Kick It Out via their reporting app where you can report anonymously.

The FA has also introduced a mandatory five match suspension and education programme for Participants who have a proven charge for face to face discriminatory abuse under FA Rule E3. This means attending a session to look at and explore discriminatory behaviour and its impact on others.

So please remember, if you see it, or hear it, report it.