Local referee associations have warned that an alleged violent attack at a suburban football match in Sydney may exacerbate a long-term shortage of volunteers, amid calls for stronger punishments to eliminate abuse.
A 25-year-old man has been charged over the alleged attack at an amateur game in Padstow, which was condemned as “disgusting and cowardly” by the state’s sports minister.
The referee, 45-year-old Khodr Yaghi, was hospitalised after having three teeth knocked out and his jaw broken in three places.
Multiple referee associations, which supply volunteers and paid referees to local leagues, hope the alleged attack will be a wake-up call that forces leagues to introduce tougher player suspensions and bans.
Rodrigo Martins, the president of the Canterbury Referees Association, said 75 local referees quit last season with 90% citing the verbal abuse they received on the pitch. He said some were concerned the verbal abuse could lead to physical harm.
“We need better education on what is not acceptable and tougher sanctions applied by local clubs and football associations,” Martins said.
“Too often I see players who abuse referees getting slaps on the wrist, rather than one-to four-week suspensions. We do need to send a message to players that’s it’s just not acceptable.”
One referee, who has managed games in south-west Sydney for 25 years, agreed that leagues needed to take much stronger action against abuse and dissent.
“Last week, I had to stop the game I was doing to run over to another and stop the players from pushing the referee. It’s ridiculous,” said Gary, a referee who asked for his last name to be withheld.
Gary said he recently saw a younger, less experienced referee in tears at half-time due to the abuse they had received from players and the crowd.
Tom Emeleus, the president of North West Sydney Football Referees Association, said violent attacksare extremely rare but demonstrated why many people are reluctant to oversee games.
“People are certainly deterred by the abuse they receive and they fear it may go further than that, but the very strong reaction to what happened this weekend is telling as it’s an extremely isolated incident in our sport,” Emeleus said.
Emeleus said his organisation reported two instances of violence against referees in about 150,000 games, with both players receiving life bans and criminal charges. He said verbal abuse was the main problem.
“We’re always struggling to recruit and retrain referees and something like this certainly doesn’t help. We do manage to cover about 90% of the games in our area, but a lot of districts,” Emeleus said.
“If we have a culture where people accept verbal abuse towards referees then you end up with the guys on the fringe who think they can take it a step further and become physical.”
A spokesperson for the Sutherland Shire Football Referees Association said that to achieve change “we just ask that people take a step and remember that while it’s a competition, it’s a game and people should always remember that”.
“If you don’t like a decision, accept it and move on. If you don’t like a series of decisions and think there’s a problem, then contact your club and let them escalate it. Don’t take matters into your own hands.
Football NSW on Sunday condemned the alleged attack and said it would support the local competition, Bankstown District Amateur Football Association, with its investigation.
Greenacre has withdrawn from the rest of the men’s premier league winter season and promised to help the association impose appropriate sanctions.
“This serves as a reminder to all that violence will not be tolerated at our club,” the club committee said.
