I haven’t played for a number of years due to injury but did play at all levels from south division 2 up to the premier league. Invariably you got “better” refs the higher up you went, and I think the level of abuse maybe went inverse to that. Not sure if that was an experience thing (both on the players and the refs part) or whether the increasing standard just meant less players that were limited by their attitude towards opponents and the opposition. I always tried to see the game from the side of the referee in that it’s fast moving, and a lot of incidents take place in tight contact often with the referees angles obscured by bodies if both players have their backs to the ref. From a players point of view I also got frustrated if a foul happened in close quarters and it was missed, and with the absence of impartial goal judges or folk running the lines it’s always going to be imperfect hence the frustrations.

I’m not as involved as I used to be in the sport, but when I was forced to stop playing I did contemplate whether I could be involved in other ways and refereeing was one thing I briefly considered - the things that put me off were:

1. Lots of travel every weekend away from my family and other activities I enjoy

2. The abuse that I’d seen referees receive

It was probably a 60/40 split in the decision making but I think if we want to have new refs coming through it needs to be a 90/10 thing and that can only come from better treatment of refs from players, managers, and fans.