Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Refereeing | Tags: referee, FA Respect, Ray Winstone, abuse at matches, officials, assistant referee
The FA’s latest move to promote respect for referees in grassroots football has resulted in a video with Hollywood hardman Ray Winstone playing the roles of good and bad parent.
The programme provides a series of tools for leagues, clubs, coaches, referees, players and parents from grassroots to elite football to ensure a safe, positive environment in which to enjoy the game. These tools include agreed codes of conduct, in-service training for Referees, Respect club packs, spectator sideline barriers funded by the Football Foundation and ensuring captains work with referees to manage player behaviour.
The question is will it work?
Already this week I’ve seen Premier league superstars showing disrespect for the referee. In my own leagues our linesman was called names by a 12-year-old which went unpunished.
As coaches we all have a responsibility to accept the word of the referee. If you have a grievance talk to the referee at the end, and don’t let your players see. The players will have forgotten the bad offside within minutes of the game ending so don’t remind them of it.
If you feel angry just walk away for a minute or two and gather yourself together.
Watch this video, sometimes it’s good to see how bad it can get. I’m sure most of you have witnessed this kind of behaviour. I know I have.
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Trackback by Anonymous March 22, 2009 @ 8:53 pmDave,
Nice work, but why do they always trot out the ‘Dad is living out his own dreams’ line? Is he really?
Then how do you explain screaming mums – did they dream of Premiership glory in their teens?
No, what the average sideline gob is actually doing is bringing adult soccer supporting habits into the youth soccer arena.
Adults are possessed and carried away by emotion and excitement at professional matches. But the total ‘lose yourself’ commitment to the result and the play doesn’t belong on a kid’s touchline.
The ‘living out your dreams’ story gives the bad Dad a get-out, he’s just a victim of his understabndable desire to see his son do well. But it’s not true.
What we have to do is expect parents to act like parents, not supporters.
You’re on a touchline, Ray, not a terrace.
Chris White
DC Writes: Good Point Chris, it is the supporters angle – if your son is getting bad marks in his maths tests you don’t shout at the maths teacher and call him an idiot. Behaving like a parent should cover sport as well as academic activities. It also doesn’t help when you listen to radio or TV commentators continually referring to bad decisions and the ref having a bad game.
Cheers
Comment by Chris White March 26, 2009 @ 10:51 amAs a high school science teacher by dawn and soccer coach by dusk, I can say that the majority of the issues with parents on the sidelines comes from misinterpretation of the environment they are in. Great classroom management comes with being prepared, and demonstrating the type of demeanor that you would want from your students. The same goes with coaching. If you exhibit a lack of self control, it catches on. Coaches make that mistake quite often with their parents as much (if not more) as with their players. Making the game fun and positive for your players will reflect with the parents.
Comment by Sean March 26, 2009 @ 5:30 pmIt’s good to know that organizations are at least trying to get better treatment for refs. I have been a referee for ten years now and I swear every year it gets ten times worse with the parents. AND– I ref 8 and 10 year old games. Somethings gotta give!
Comment by Campanola Watches January 19, 2010 @ 4:46 pm-Sylvia