A&H

Merseyside Sunday League referee strike

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Ben448844

RefChat Addict
So following on from a junior league in the same area postponing all matches for a week due to ref abuse, an adult Sunday League has no games going ahead for "the foreseeable future" due to referees staging a strike.

Personally I commend them as a group for standing against the ever increasing abuse. Whatever has been tried previously by clubs, leagues, County FA'S etc clearly hasn't worked as it doesn't take much research to see that things have once again been escalating on that league.

Interesting to see if there's any long term benefits from this but it is definitely a positive step imo.
 
The Referee Store
To be clear, the matches appear to be continuing, just no referees are being appointed to any games. Screenshot from Full-Time.

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TBH I applaud this. And if there was global action I think everyone would join. We should do what we can to end abuse and violence. Striking is probably the only way to get authorities to take action. Has to be everyone though.
 
Have the referees stated what they are looking for before returning?
I can only assume the issue is the league is failing to adequately punish the offenders (players, teams or clubs) to the level the referees are expecting.
 
Unfortunately if there’s a club referee they tend to get an easier time than a qualified one. The players usually think a qualified ref should be Howard Webb, while they’re obviously Cristiano Ronaldo! If someone from a club does the job they often cut them a lot of slack. Also being from one of the teams they usually have their team’s support. Wearing the kit tends to paint a target on your back for both teams.

Plus, they obviously give a lot more of the “what football expects” decisions and fewer of the more controversial but correct ones a qualified referee would. There was a lot of surprise on Sunday when I penalised a player who took the ball but then went through the opponent due to the wet pitch, even though I’d told them before the game I wouldn’t allow players to use the conditions to clatter opponents. When this happened I penalised it, while a club referee wouldn’t and probably wouldn’t know this was wrong. Years ago I sent a player who took the ball but broke the keepers leg on the follow through. After the game the keeper’s team said if I didn’t want to report it they wouldn’t either, because he had played the ball!

At our last committee meeting we had a team report that their referee had failed to show so they’d agreed to an opposition player doing the game. Unfortunately the team has the worst disciplinary record on the league so they spent 90 minutes being kicked off the pitch. As we all know, if you get the ball you can then do what you want to the opponent!
The home team wouldn’t agree to a club referee in future but the away team certainly would. If this is a one week thing I think it will have limited impact.
 
Macca said:
Have the referees stated what they are looking for before returning?
I can only assume the issue is the league is failing to adequately punish the offenders (players, teams or clubs) to the level the referees are expecting.
Click to expand...
I've seen the statement and that was my question, what are their demands before they are willing to return.

Leagues can't punish players, teams or clubs, that is down to the CFA. Once a player or team has picked up a certain number of disciplinary points then the league can take action, such as withdrawing player registration, but they can't act in isolation.
 
RustyRef said:
I've seen the statement and that was my question, what are their demands before they are willing to return.

Leagues can't punish players, teams or clubs, that is down to the CFA. Once a player or team has picked up a certain number of disciplinary points then the league can take action, such as withdrawing player registration, but they can't act in isolation.
Click to expand...
Oh wow. Here in Ireland, the different leagues have their own disciplinary rules, and the one I referee in allow the league executive to ban anyone indefinitely for cases of serious abuse. For lower levels of abuse, there are suspensions and large fines. I've even seen teams been kicked out of the league during a season.
 
The rules are very different here. The CFAs control discipline and leagues are limited on what action they can take, especially before the FA have dealt with it. We had a team who had absolutely shocking discipline issues. The league kicked them out the next season, but the CFA said that wasn’t allowed. They were then allowed in but the league refused to accept the registration of anyone who had been sent off the previous season, which was half the team. They obviously struggled to win any games that season.
After a season they ended up leaving the league and joining the Thanet league. That was a much more physical league and they actually fitted in quite well! They also calmed down a lot because the other teams wouldn’t allow their antics like on the previous league.
 
Ben448844 said:
So following on from a junior league in the same area postponing all matches for a week due to ref abuse, an adult Sunday League has no games going ahead for "the foreseeable future" due to referees staging a strike.

Personally I commend them as a group for standing against the ever increasing abuse. Whatever has been tried previously by clubs, leagues, County FA'S etc clearly hasn't worked as it doesn't take much research to see that things have once again been escalating on that league.

Interesting to see if there's any long term benefits from this but it is definitely a positive step imo.
Click to expand...
A reminder this league was heralded as one of the best in England not long ago in the athletic: https://theathletic.com/2478808/202...its-not-like-that/?source=user_shared_article

When I read this I thought the atmosphere sounded horrific to ref and I’m not surprised it resulted in a strike.
 
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