Got a bit of stick on Twitter for saying respect needs to earned not granted per second so being unable to make my argument in 140 characters I thought I'd do a few ramblings on here.
Firstly can I say that back in the 70's and 80's I was a referree so I have experience of what faces the men and women in black (Or nowadays any colour of the rainbow) when they step on the pitch.
So we'll with the concept that as they line up for the handshakes the Officials respect the Players and vice versa, so where does it all go pear shaped after that and let's start with the refs
1. Communication, how often have you seen a ref wave players away like the lord of the manor dismissing a serving wench,or lad when they want to dispute or clarify a decision, not exactly condusive to fostering a good relationship
2. Teamwork, there are 3 teams out there and the smallest one has no supporters so they need to look after and help each other but so often they make life difficult, when I was a ref we worked on the principle that the assistants (Linesmen in those days) flagged for offsides,ball in and out of play and fouls but the ref could overule them if he saw fit.Not sure when it came in but I regularly see now Refs Assistants waiting for the ref to indicate which way a throw in or foul is even if their assistant is in a much better position to see the incident,players and spectators not realising what the assistants instructions are get wound up and comments of get your flag up abound
3. Enforce The Laws and two in particular, foul and abusive aimed at the officials and players surrounding the ref and or assistants,if you think not sending off a player who calls you effing useless or anything that contains the word cheat is going to earn you respect then you are very much mistaken.Now for the don't surround the ref, recently clarified and applied with the same enthusiasm as kids going back to school after the summer holidays,you do wonder would football be a different game had Andy D'urso stood his ground and said back off or out come the cards instead of retreating like a frightened rabbit as the United players advanced on him.And talking of refs on TV I think we have all lost count of the number of times we have seen players let a few expletives off at our supposedly top officials with no punishment,what chance does a youngster starting off on a parks pitch have when their betters set such an awful example
3. Give what you see and nothing else,don't assume or presume something if you or your assistants didn't see it don't give it ( See Teamwork)
Ok so now the players
1.Youre not perfect you're human and make mistakes and the officials are no different, they will make mistakes but not deliberately so get off their backs and give them the benefit of the doubt occasionally
2. Don't go down easily, claim a corner or throw in when you know you touched the ball last ,ITS CALLED CHEATING and you should be ashamed of yourselves and why should the ref have any respect for you, players not cheating gives the officials a fighting chance of getting most decisions right
3.See Refs item 3 call them cheats or expletive deleted this that and the other then expect to get sent off because you deserve it, only in a tiny minority of cases world wide through the the history of the game have refs gone out to cheat so the chances of your ref being one of them are miniscule
4. Surrounding the ref,it's against the laws and when has it ever caused a decision to be changed, ask them to explain their decision but does it take 11 of you screaming in their face to do that
So that's my take on Respect,will anything change I very much doubt it and the game will continue to hemorrhage refs who can't put up with the abuse however much they the game and their part in it
PS Bring in the dealth penalty for any pundit who says there was contact when that contact wouldn't have caused a Butterfly to deviate from its flight path
PPS Parents at kids games behave ,stop screaming at the ref because you thought little Johnny or Jenny was fouled,act your age and if you can't spectate properly don't go
