The abuse of Merseyside referees at grass roots level is only getting worse according to a new report, by the governing body of the game in Merseyside for over 120 years.
The Liverpool FA have published findings that reveal 90% of officials experienced abuse, with a 15% rise in cases.
Referee development officer Matthew Pointer told MerseySportLive: “We are seeing no signs of improvement, the female side of Liverpool refereeing is at an all-time low. We have six females who referee around Merseyside. Minor/ if any punishments are being handed to the abusers.”
Pointer added: “Often at points throughout the year we have struggled to appoint enough referees to grassroots games. This has led to us often having coaches and parents who are not qualified referees officiate the games, leaving us in an endless cycle.”
Ellie Fox also works for the Liverpool FA as the football development officer (women and girls) and said: “It has been a really tough year for improving female referee engagement. It is very rare that we have a female sign up to complete the course and with only a handful female referees left it is an area we are targeting to improve drastically.”
Merseyside has experienced a significant gap in referee availability, with up to 40% of referees unavailable on certain weekends. This leads to a huge issue for referee appointment officer. The referees who put up with the abuse and put themselves forward to officiate games can often end up doing five fixtures across a weekend just to cover the high demand.
Verbal and physical abuse is the big reason why Liverpool FA is struggling to recruit new referees. The negative environment has led to a huge decline in new applicants and many deciding to hang up the whistle after a short time in the role.
