Leader: Grassroots football threatened by abuse of referees

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but for the referees in Telford Sunday League football does not live up to its sobriquet of the "beautiful game".

It is anything but beautiful. It is ugly and offensive.

Referees have always got it in the neck at matches involving Football League teams. The chants from the terraces after controversial decisions do not need repeating.

That is unacceptable and it is about time that the same standards which are now belatedly being applied when players are subject to racial abuse are also applied when referees, who are paid a fraction of the amount of the players, come in for abuse and threats.

Depressingly, the culture of criticising referees is embraced by some commentators and sports writers who see it as part of the game and their right.

That it has filtered down to local football is doubly depressing. A police officer who referees in Telford Sunday League matches has called for the FA to investigate abuse suffered by officials.

The internet has added a new dimension. They can now be abused both on match days and online.

This is the reward and thanks they get for giving up their time to ensure others can enjoy themselves. If refs were to go on strike – and who could blame them? – everything would grind to a halt. There would be no football at any level. Players would have to referee their own games, like little children do.

The Telford league officials are doing their best to stamp out the problem. Best of luck to them. It is bad enough that it is embedded in the higher levels of the game.

Should it become embedded in the grass roots, any idea that football is fun can go out of the window.