A referee ended up tailgated by the deranged father of an under-15s boy he sent off just minutes earlier. The match official was left “very concerned” for his safety when the man overtook and blocked him in.
The terrifying ordeal began after the game in Somerset last January. The ref told the FA how he was confronted after the final whistle by a parent who “jumped over the respect barrier and blocked my way”. The man ranted, “You fat c**t why don’t you f**king retire, you d**khead”. The ref took a photo of his abuser as he drove off but was pursued down the high street by a car “driving fast behind me”.
When there was a gap in the traffic, the man in pursuit overtook and blocked the ref in, before jumping out of his car and trying to force his way into the ref’s vehicle.
The ref drove off but the attacker followed him a second time: “At this point I was very concerned for my safety. [He] was driving very close to the rear of my car and was very intimidating.” Burnham United Juniors pleaded guilty and were fined £250.
A 17-year-old referee had to be “shielded” from aggressive parents after their under 10s team were losing 6-1. One kicked the car of the young ref’s father as he came to pick him up and attempted to prise open the car doors.
The teenaged match official said: “One guy had to be restrained. I got into the car, which he then kicked. The other chap went to the window where my father was sat and shouted, spittle flowing from his mouth. I felt that unless I left the area and without other parents there to restrain the protagonists, there would have been a possibility that I was physically assaulted.”
One of the mums from The Bosco FC is also alleged to have “charged aggressively” at the Dulwich Village players and said “you are filth, and that you should be ashamed of yourselves”. Bosco pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2023 and were fined £225 by the London FA.
One spectator at a Sunday league game in London in 2023 threatened to meet the referee in the car park after the game, called him a “f**king c*** and mug”, before trying to run two match officials over with their car. Ground Hoppers denied the charge but were fined £280.
At another Sunday league game that season, this time in Derbyshire, supporters made multiple threats to kill the referee. One said: “I know where you live you little Scunny rat. I’ll raid your house in the middle of the night while you are sleeping and you’ll be lucky to wake up.”
Another said: “If you ever return to Creswell, I’ll f*** you up and tear you a new one.” One tried to prevent the referee leaving in his car, making a throat-slitting gesture, saying “I’ll be back and then you die”, before returning with a spade and chasing the ref out of the car park. The FA said this was “extremely serious misconduct” and “utterly disgraceful”, adding: “No Match Official ought to have to deal with such shocking behaviour and abuse.” Cresswell Barnet denied the charge but were fined £300.
One young referee, Ateeb Hussain, from Bradford’s Alpha United, said: “I have been at the club since I was 10. First I played, now I coach. I have been racially abused since I started. It has happened when I was playing, it happens when I am coaching and it happens when I am refereeing.
“I remember the first time it happened. I didn’t hear it but I was told about it by another player, who heard it, and his parents. I was 11 and we were playing at home. They told me it was racial abuse but they didn’t tell me what they said. That person was white but it is also Asian people who say these things because they feel comfortable. But it isn’t right.
“My mum was horrified, she was very upset when she heard. She was happy for me to keep playing, but she said this needed to stop. It has happened most as a ref, mostly from the parents. If the decision doesn’t go the opposition players side, I have had people calling me P**i, I have had people calling me a monkey. Outside of football, I have never had any trouble like this. I live in a mostly Asian area, and I have never been racially abused.”
We’ve analysed nearly 500 reports from the FA’s disciplinary hearings over the last three years, which reveal the abuse and anger which mar games, mostly played for fun by children, across the country, every weekend.
The FA told us there were 276 serious cases of crowd disorder last season, up 28% in a year. So far this season there have already been 177 upheld. Growing numbers of these are from matches involving under 18s. This was up 45% last year and so far this year nearly two-thirds – 62% – of the most serious cases investigated by the FA were at children’s matches.
An FA spokesperson said: “We strongly condemn any abusive or unacceptable behaviour, either on the pitch or from the sidelines, and we have clear standards of behaviour which we expect all grassroots football clubs, coaches and players to follow.
“This is a collective responsibility and we welcome and fully support action taken by leagues and clubs to help tackle this unacceptable behaviour in our game.”
* Have you experienced abuse at football matches? Email nick.sommerlad@mirror.co.uk
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
