The Football Association of Ireland has made a statement that they will not tolerate the abuse of referees in the local club leagues
This decision by the FAI is in light of a number of Dublin referees withdrawing their services for this weekend’s games. These officials felt that there was little to no support for them during underage soccer matches.
The referees confirmed on Monday that they will not officiate at the upcoming matches in the North Dublin Schoolboys/Girls League and Metropolitan Girls League.
The FAI has previously completed programs to impact the abuse problem in local Irish leagues.
Refereeing is a tough job as they must be impartial while they deal with opinions from players. This problem has grown worse with parents and supporters expressing this disdain during and after matches.
FAI Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Hill said:
“I can assure affiliates across the country that the FAI will do whatever is needed to ensure the protection of all our referees – without them, we have no game, plain and simple.
“The small minority of players, coaches, officials, and all others guilty of such abuse need to understand that. They must know that Irish football and the FAI will do whatever we have to do to ensure a zero-tolerance policy towards abuse of any match official.
“Our disciplinary regulations carry clear and serious sanctions to be enforced on anyone who abuses a match official and we are calling on all Leagues to enforce those sanctions. We cannot and will not tolerate any abuse aimed at a referee at any level of the game.”
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