The Referee’s Word...

Some time ago I read an article by an anonymous journalist regarding the topic of racism in refereeing within English football. Within the article was an interview with a referee that disturbed me greatly, enough for me to publicly criticise this piece.  I should start this by making my stance on the matter of racism perfectly clear. Racism is vile. It is a cancer on our society and it has been very positive to see certain players taking a stand against it and highlighting the problems that occur within English and world football. I do believe these incidents are much more common outside of England however that doesn’t make it right and very recently we have seen a couple of incidents regarding this matter. One incident of racism towards any person is one too many.  What is encouraging however is how much society in general has moved on in the last half a century. Compared to the times of prime time shows such as Til’ Death Us Do Part in the 60s and 70s which was accepted then as racis

I started refereeing in the Wakefield and District League on a Saturday aged 16. I turned up to games via mum and dads taxi and collected the wholesome sum of £13. The additional £3 expenses were often met with a “Bloody hell where you come from, London?”  I can honestly say I never once returned home at any stage during my progression through the refereeing pyramid at any level thinking I deserved to earn more than I picked up that day. More would have been nice, of course it would, but I never took to any platform to claim that I was underpaid. Oh how times change!! Recently on social media I have been bemused by the sudden value that referees place on themselves at different levels of the game. Ultimately what we do is a hobby, a good fun way of staying fit and being involved in the game we love. That hobby does provide a service though and rightly so referees are paid for that service. It’s a service that lasts for somewhere between 90-100 minutes barring the odd rare extra time an