A recent conversation with a close friend has sparked an interesting thought to another side of the game that often undeservedly receives an abundance of abuse…refereeing.

My friend bless him is not your best sportsmen standing at just over 5 foot and possessing two left feet but his passion for the refereeing element of the game is expansive as he bores us all in the pub, reeling off ref stats one after the other. Prompted on why he loves refereeing so much? Passion and love for a sport he can’t play well…

Puzzled and wondering why he doesn’t just stick to champ manager or play at a low level of competitiveness, it fuelled interest into referees motivations and the extent of the problem of referee shortages affecting the large majority of football playing communities across the globe.

Refereeing abuse as I knew of it appears to have evolved along with the game, from comical remarks to personal, foul mouthed gestures ranging in extreme instances to physical violence. A recent video of a Chinese football player continuing Di Canio’s referee beating legacy signifies the lack of respect evident in many games of football played across the world.

Being a Chelsea fan, I cannot condone Drogba or Ballacks disgraceful ref abuse witnessed in last seasons Champions League semi-final against Barcelona. It was unprofessional, vulgar and made a mockery of the club with much of footballs youth on looking and aspiring to Didier as a role model whilst hurling abuse at poor referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo.

Incidentally, Ovrebo was the subject to death threats by Chelsea fans post the game and was smuggled out of the stadium into immediate police protection for not his best refereeing performance, but undoubtedly undeserving of such a response.

In Drogba’s and other hot-headed player’s rather weak defence, passion and emotion is an inevitable part of the game which can also produce truly magical occasions. Portrayed very well by Jose Mourinho in his recent Sky HD adverts revolving around ‘passion for the game’.

Ironically, dodgy refs and poor decisions are what make football so magical to watch with such a whirl wind of highs and lows. Referee disagreements and passion filled arguments are what make the modern game such an attraction whilst also posing one of the amateur games biggest threats. Beyond these selfish views, at the root of the problem and in relative terms are people like my friend who are the barrage of such abuse. These individuals remain an inspirational bunch who persist in volunteering their time to help develop and govern the game to propel the English grassroots system.

The gulf between professional football referees continues to expand as your average Sunday league match is governed by a team-mates uncle who completed a coaching course whilst at school over 30 years ago. With refereeing numbers dwindling after every weekend of abuse, not only the FA’s ‘Respect’ campaign but governing bodies across sport are forced to heavily invest into the grassroots element of their game.

According to the FA, every season sees 7,000 referees quit football due to abuse received from players and from the sidelines. It appears referee recruitment and retention is pretty difficult if all you can offer to participants is a stressful role where their title will be one of many swearwords in a predominantly volunteer based role?

Instead of abusing referees and campaigning for technological advancement we should understand their faults and pay homage to these unique, often weird looking individuals who are governing the game with a uniform fit for a funeral and a mere whistle. Today’s average referee is fitter, smarter and much more accurate than referees experienced throughout my lifetime, so I can safely say that next time I am unhappy with a challenge or dodgy decision I will bite my top lip before hurling any abuse.

Join the discussion and share your comments, whether a referee, opinionated player or sympathetic observer let us know your thoughts on refereeing…

Alain Brissimitzakis writes at UnifySport.com.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

With the recent news of England’s successful Rugby World Cup bid, it would appear that another part of what is fast becoming known as ‘The Golden Decade of Sport’ has fallen into place. The thought of an Olympic Games and RWC may be enough to excite most sports fans, but for many the big one is still the 2018 Football World Cup bid. Regardless of whether England are successful in their bid for the World Cup or not, what has successfully been achieved is the fuelling a nations passion for sport and the situation of the UK as the definitive home of international sport for the next decade.

The next 10 years will not only provide British sports fans with an incredible range of world class sporting events but will also herald unprecedented investment into all areas of the sporting spectrum. The legacy that these events will leave behind, and in particular the Olympics, will benefit generations for years to come. The hope and expectation is that the increased investment in sports facilities will continue to reap rewards for decades to come in increased participation at a youth and grassroots level.

The increased sporting profile that the UK has received on the back of the successful 2012 Olympic bid has not only encouraged youth participation in sport but has also acted as a catalyst for further sporting growth. The successful Olympics bid paved the way for subsequent successful 2015 RWC bid and a yet to be decided 2018 football World Cup bid. What Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Gerry Sutcliffe, the current minister for sport have achieved is fuelling a nations passion for sport and situating British sport as an example for rest of the world to aspire to. Ex-sports minister Richard Caborn is currently leading England’s bid to stage the 2018 football World Cup, and with him a nations hopes of completing the golden decade of sport. Caborn will undoubtedly point to England’s success at hosting similar scale events in the past and our plans to hold similar events in the future as an indicator of our ability to host a successful Football World Cup.

When the country is not spending money on fighting wars, combating swine flu and clawing its way out of the misery that is the recession, both the exchequer and the lottery are spending considerable sums on sporting facilities. Since 2001, the exchequer and the national lottery have invested over £1 billion into building or upgrading 4,000 sports facilities across Britain. The economic benefit will trickle down to football clubs across England as they generate revenue from hosting sporting events. Quite impressive right? Even more astonishing is that public funding for community sport has increased by over 700% in the last 10 years, from £50 million in 1998 to its current level of £400 million a year.

British Sport is on the up. A true sporting nation with a huge opportunity to take advantage of the range of sporting events being showcased across the UK in the next 10 years. Just some of the great due to take place between now and 2020 include:

2010: Ryder Cup, Celtic Manor
2012: Champions League Final
2012: Olympic and Paralympic Games, London
2013: Rugby League World Cup
2014: Ryder Cup, Gleneagles and Commonwealth Games, Glasgow
2015: Rugby World Cup
2018: Football World Cup – TBC
2019: Cricket World Cup

For one generation we appear to have all three elements of sporting success in alignment, international promise, amateur and grassroots initiatives in motion and we are hosts for many major sporting events. Lets win gold medals galore, lets have an all England champions league final and relive our 1966 glory on no better place than our home turf.

Long live sport and public spending on it!!

Alain Brissimitzakis writes on UnifySport.com.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News