A Nottinghamshire football referee who was assaulted by a player during a match says abuse being suffered by officials is getting worse. Simon Reast was knocked to the floor, kicked and squirted in the face with a water bottle during a Sunday league game in Carlton last October.
His attacker, Craig Binch, was handed a suspended prison sentence when he appeared in court on Thursday, June 1, and was banned from playing for six years by Nottinghamshire FA. However, Mr Reast says more needs to be done to deter players and managers from abusing match officials.
The 59-year-old from Mapperley, who runs a cleaning business for a living, said referees were "easy targets" and often treated like pantomime villains. "My wife's had to stand there and watch me get hit before, it's not acceptable.
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"It's a pretty lonely place out there," he told Nottinghamshire Live. "You turn up, don't know anyone and you'll be the pantomime villain straight away.
"If it wasn't for us they wouldn't have a game. Players will shake your hand before the game, I don't know what it is but as soon as the whistle goes they and managers seem to change.
"They think it's acceptable to give referees abuse but at the end of the day we're just human beings, we haven't got two heads, we're not aliens." Mr Reast, who did not want his face pictured due to the fear of being recognised whilst refereeing, said the shock of the assault by Binch left him in tears.
"I came into the changing rooms and just broke down crying, I was shocked," he recalled. "As a referee, yeah I get people threatening me, but now we're at the point where someone has actually assaulted me.
"And it's just over a football game. It's totally wrong." On the attack, the dad-of-two said: "I was sat there thinking 'why was I doing this?' But it keeps me fit, my mind working and active and you meet some great people. If you can't play football like me, then you do the next best thing which is reffing."
He returned to referee a youth game the following weekend. Mr Reast said abuse was "ingrained" in the culture of football and pointed to high profile incidents involving professional players.
Only on Wednesday, May 31, Anthony Taylor was repeatedly surrounded by players during the UEFA Europa League Final. A.S. Roma manager Jose Mourinho waited in the car park for the English referee after the game.
Fans of the club later harassed Taylor and his family as they boarded a flight at Budapest Airport. "People think that's the right thing to do - not all but some teams," said Mr Reast.
"It comes from the top down to the bottom, I don't know how they're going to eradicate that because it's ingrained in the game. There's referees leaving in droves because it's too much."
He said bigger punishments should be introduced, such as lifetime bans for repeat offenders and points deductions for teams. When the six-year ban was issued to Binch, Nottinghamshire FA referee development officer Liam Brown said: “Firstly, this was a traumatic event for the referee and those involved, but all parties are satisfied by the outcome of the hearing, and we believe this sends out a strong message to the football community that referee abuse is being tackled head on in Nottinghamshire.
"The County FA has been working hard over the past 18 months to increase referee numbers in our county and we are proud of the support network we have created and continue to develop for all referees. The result of the hearing shows the importance of the support network and the value in reporting incidents into the County FA.”
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