Survey on Referee Abuse

[Gabriel]

Hi all,

A good friend of mine who works in law is planning to campaign to the authorities for legislation to be introduced to give match officials specific protection whilst doing our duties on the pitch - similar to legislation introduced in Poland last year. I have attached a survey below which will greatly help this cause, as it is about the extent of abuse of match officials, and also the support we receive from The FA etc. Responses are greatly appreciated, and it will take about 10/15 minutes (max) to complete. Responses are kept anonymous if you wish.
It is designed for officials in England, however those in other countries are welcome to fill it in. Where there are questions related to CFAs and The FA refereeing levels, just select other if this is the case.
It is very self explanatory, and as I said, would be super helpful. The link will be active for at least a week.
Please share it with any match officials you know who would like to fill it in.

Regards.

Football Referee Abuse Survey

Thank you for responding to this survey on the issue of abuse of match officials in football. All responses will be kept anonymous unless you wish to put any personal details in question 1, in which case it will be assumed you are happy for certain details to be shared with anyone who asks about...

forms.gle

 

[santa sangria]

Would be amazing… great initiative

 

[RustyRef]

Just to add, @Gabriel asked me for permission as to whether he could add this and I obviously said yes. No obligation, but let's get as many of us as possible filling it in.

 

[Gabriel]

Thanks to all who have responded so far. Limited in numbers at the moment, but some really interesting responses.

 

[santa sangria]

What is the Poland legislation?
I’ve Googled and can’t find it.

 

[Gabriel]

What is the Poland legislation?
I’ve Googled and can’t find it.

I had the same issues with Google but there was a thread on here discussing it last year at some point. Also, my information came from my friend who is quite knowledgeable on these issues. Even so, the fact it has been (supposedly) introduced in Poland doesn't affect decisions in other countries, as circumstances are very different. If it turns out it never happened, that won't stop the drive for it here., as it is, quite frankly, way overdue.

 

[JamesL]

There's a problem with the form. Page 2 has the abuse from players heading then no questions.

Edit: ignore, just a badly structured MS Form.

 

[Gabriel]

There's a problem with the form. Page 2 has the abuse from players heading then no questions.

I've checked it over and I think that was just intended as a section heading. If you go onto Page 3 there should be a question on dissent, which leads onto further question on other pages depending on your answer.

 

[JamesL]

I've checked it over and I think that was just intended as a section heading. If you go onto Page 3 there should be a question on dissent, which leads onto further question on other pages depending on your answer.

Thanka, I figured that out when I got to managers and I was the same. Edited my post to say.

 

[Gabriel]

Thanka, I figured that out when I got to managers and I was the same. Edited my post to say.

Yes sorry missed the edit. I agree the form isn't great tbh. Some questions are a bit obvious when it comes to the answers people will give. It wasn't made by a match official though.

 

[santa sangria]

I had the same issues with Google but there was a thread on here discussing it last year at some point. Also, my information came from my friend who is quite knowledgeable on these issues. Even so, the fact it has been (supposedly) introduced in Poland doesn't affect decisions in other countries, as circumstances are very different. If it turns out it never happened, that won't stop the drive for it here., as it is, quite frankly, way overdue.

It is not ideal when a long search for this only yields two threads on here!

Can’t really be cited or treated as a serioys reference without some kind of article or source.

I do know some Polish refs via Iber Cups… I’ll ask.

 

[Gabriel]

It is not ideal when a long search for this only yields two threads on here!

Can’t really be cited or treated as a serioys reference without some kind of article or source.

I do know some Polish refs via Iber Cups… I’ll ask.

Yes I know. The evidence is very dodgy but if people demand legislation, it is more likely to happen, regardless of whether other countries do it or not. Interested to know from those guys though! Regardless, it is very unlikely to happen as there have only been 13 responses so far, and only 8 of those fully support the idea of legislation being introduced.

 

[santa sangria]

Yes I know. The evidence is very dodgy but if people demand legislation, it is more likely to happen, regardless of whether other countries do it or not. Interested to know from those guys though! Regardless, it is very unlikely to happen as there have only been 13 responses so far, and only 8 of those fully support the idea of legislation being introduced.

I haven’t done the survey yet and I’m another country.

What is common is, referees are like zero hours contract workers. Think what has happened to the “task rabbits”, the delivery drivers, taxi drivers, warehouse workers. They had no workplace protection, minimal rights, minimal representation and their employers were able to get away with essentially unjust employment practices (pay, expenses, breaks, sick pay, contractual terms, training, promotion etc etc.)

Forget about refereeing on TV and the idea that it’s a paid hobby (basically we need to stop being so masochistic and hierarchical). We don’t special laws, just basic workplace rights, not dissimilar to warehouse workers and delivery drivers.

Then our employers will be forced to protect us in the workplace (and act on abuse).

The regional/county/state FAs are guilty of the same stuff as Amazon, Deliveroo etc. IMHO this is the way to frame it. And where our representation organizations should be pushing. Problem here is our representative body is indistinguishable from the local FA. Such conflicts of interest and lack of representation would be an outrage in the corporate environment - but football governance is archaic. It will come.

 

[Gabriel]

I haven’t done the survey yet and I’m another country.

What is common is, referees are like zero hours contract workers. Think what has happened to the “task rabbits”, the delivery drivers, taxi drivers, warehouse workers. They had no workplace protection, minimal rights, minimal representation and their employers were able to get away with essentially unjust employment practices (pay, expenses, breaks, sick pay, contractual terms, training, promotion etc etc.)

Forget about refereeing on TV and the idea that it’s a paid hobby (basically we need to stop being so masochistic and hierarchical). We don’t special laws, just basic workplace rights, not dissimilar to warehouse workers and delivery drivers.

Then our employers will be forced to protect us in the workplace (and act on abuse).

The regional/county/state FAs are guilty of the same stuff as Amazon, Deliveroo etc. IMHO this is the way to frame it. And where our representation organizations should be pushing. Problem here is our representative body is indistinguishable from the local FA. Such conflicts of interest and lack of representation would be an outrage in the corporate environment - but football governance is archaic. It will come.

Basic representation is the minimum of what the campaign will be for. Just justifying that alone will essentially be a "special law" because it wasn't there before.