Every time a player steps over the white line of the field he puts himself right into the media spotlight. Everything that player does for the duration of the match will be scrutinised by watching eyes and assessed. I’m not talking about pundits, or journalists. I’m talking about youth.
Football is the national game and millions of youngsters dream of becoming the next sensation. They admire their role models, often keeping a close eye on a specific hero for their club. Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale, Lukas Podolski. This list goes on and on, including players from every side in the Premier League. Kids want to be just like their favourite player.
That’s all very well when the players themselves concentrate on football and show the nation just why they are professional. However, the word professional has become an extremely loose term. Diving, racial abuse, stick towards match officials, refusing to shake hands with a particular player. Every single one of these things happens on a regular basis, you can’t deny that there is a lot of bad blood in the game. The issue is when kids pick up of these things and then mimic them when they take to the field for a Sunday league team. The youth has always compared themselves to their favourite star, I did it myself. You watch the game and then the next chance you have you’re out trying to recreate that magical moment. Nowadays, not all the moments are magical but kids still mimic what they see.
I talk from personal experience. I was a county referee for 4 years and like the majority of referees in the game have negative stories to tell. I challenge you to find one referee who has not been abused by players on one occasion, it just doesn’t happen. I was called every name under the sun, just because I was wearing a black kit and holding a whistle.
Some call it passion but that’s just ignoring the issue. At times I didn’t even have to make any decision for the abuse to start. You’ll always get stick from one side whatever decision you make but the plain and simple fact is that referees are abused for being referees. This is down to one thing. The elite level. Every game a player will confront the referee, the respect campaign that was introduced just didn’t do enough. Punishments aren’t severe, referees aren’t strict. Kids see their heroes get away with saying things to the referee in a derogatory fashion and assume the same applies to them.
Footballers need to take a step back and assess the situation they are in. Of course there’s always going to be times when a player loses their cool and gets agitated, that’s just sport, but things go too far on to often a basis. The fact of the matter is while nothing changes at the top, the bottom of the football pyramid will continue to be poisoned and sour. Who’d take up the whistle when they know how much abuse they will get? It’s one of the reasons I don’t miss it now. I can’t say I enjoyed getting up on a Sunday and being insulted by a 13 year old.
Follow me on Twitter: @Challies11
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