Main

I’m torn. On the one hand there has to be some vehicle of accountability for referees, on the other publicly criticising them like this does not seem the way to do it, particularly when a lot of the issues with refereeing standards are getting them engaged at a grassroots level and having a culture where it is seen as normal for players or managers to criticise the referee in a premier league match inevitably creates the same culture for teenagers starting out at unders football. Refereeing standards are obviously an issue but a lot of the long term ways that can be fixed are worsened by having a culture where officials aren’t respected