It is a wet and windy Tuesday evening in the East Midlands. In a pre-season friendly, the home side lead 2-0 against higher-tier opposition.
A home winger nudges the ball away from an opposing full-back, causing the latter to inadvertently, but forcefully, kick his adversary in the stomach.
As the referee pulls out a yellow card, an assortment of insults rain down from the stand. In a convincing impression of The Muppets’ Statler and Waldorf, one spectator shouts, "Is it your first game, ref?" to which his friend replies back "let's hope it's his last".
The decision, however, was the correct one; the tackle was reckless if not deliberate.
Yet this did not save the referee from being told, “for f**k sake ref, do something else”. The referee cracks a wry smile and carries on. This is humorous compared to abuse he has received before.
Across the English game, the reality of refereeing is much the same.
The quality of English officiating is regularly maligned, and one need not look far to find disparaging comments about match officials in the media.
From comments attacking a perceived lack of quality to claims of bias, from how referees make it all about themselves to personal attacks, the criticism is fervent.
However, the Premier League reports that 94% of decisions were correct last season.
Not bad, considering that top-flight referees are estimated to make a decision every 22 seconds.
Although recording such statistics in the non-league system is impossible and mistakes are obviously made, the quality of officiating on the whole remains competent.
Yet despite these figures, 60% of amateur referees in England have reported suffering severe verbal abuse, compared to 2.2% in the Netherlands. It seems something is lost in translation.
These stats reveal the appalling contempt with which English football treats some of most dutiful servants, but more worryingly reveals the country’s education problem.
A concerning lack of knowledge about the how and why of one of the most important parts of our game embeds a culture of ignorance to which referees cannot respond.
Until the knowledge gap is bridged, ugly instances of abuse and assault on referees which mar our so-called ‘beautiful’ game will only ever become more frequent.
But how did we get to this point, and more importantly, what can the football community do to change it?
Fitness tests, laws of the game and body fat: Opening the book of the unknown world of referees
Despite the age-old saying, “no ref, no game”, referees are a minority. There are only around 32,000 in England, not enough to fill most Premier League stadiums.
Often shielded from the media in the face of scathing criticism, only a small pool of people are aware of what it is truly like to be one of football’s best pantomime villains.
This is most evident on England’s terraces, where there is scant awareness of the sacrifices referees have to make, the time it takes, and the constant demands of the role.
Before a referee steps onto the pitch, there are expectations about their behaviour, fitness and commitment.
Adhering to codes of conduct on social media, bans on gambling, notifying availability for matches online (sometimes up to a month in advance) and regularly making round trips of over 100 miles for a game are all standard practice.
Fitness tests at the semi-professional level, and body fat readings three times a season at National League North and South level and above, are added to regular training and development events, all whilst juggling a full-time job.
On the pitch, those expectations only increase. Guided by the 17 Laws of the Game, referees must past an exam should they wish to be promoted from the starting rank of Level 7 up to Level 1.
They are observed by an FA Observer multiple times throughout the season, with ‘Application of Law’ the most heavily weighted of ten competencies.
If the exam is failed, or if a referee’s average observation mark is below an average pass mark, the referee doesn’t get promoted, and can be demoted.
Rightly so, one might add.
Yet it is here that the impasse between England’s referees and football population is most prevalent.
It is startling that seldom few football fans have ever read one, let alone all 17, of the laws which govern the decisions made on a football pitch.
Referees must often explain law to players mid-game and are often brutally criticised by fans and players alike based on outdated knowledge of law.
“Fans and players have very limited, and often dated knowledge,” says Callum Hutton, a Step 5-6 referee who officiates in the semi-professional game.
“Amongst spectators, that can cause hostility and a raised game tempo that then makes our job harder.”
Olly Mackey, a Step 2 official refereeing on the National League North and South, often in front of several hundred if not more, is slightly more positive, but agrees that knowledge is sometimes lacking: “General knowledge of the laws has increased in recent years. Having said that, there are still a significant number of fans that don’t know aspects of them.
“It’s been a big step forward to introduce the LOTG app and information on social media, and it’s been even better to introduce certain ex-referees into punditry.
"For me this helps spectators see a decision more from a referee’s point of view, and that can only be a good thing, as sometimes when I get stick from spectators it’s clear that they have no idea what they’re talking about!”
Apart from pundits at the top level, referees are unable to rationally justify or legitimise contentious decisions in law to mass crowds.
Instead, they face fervent (and often factually incorrect) criticism from all areas of football in silence.
Up and down the country, a general dislike of officials has built over years, based on a misplaced perception of lack of competence, which now frequently boils over.
The danger of ignorance
With no one to correct those who abuse officials, and precious few others trying to understand their view, a culture of ignorance has embedded itself in the English game. This poses serious risks to its quality, integrity, and to referees themselves.
Last month, an amateur referee was punched in the face after dismissing a player who had threatened him.
Premier League referees and their families have previously received death threats online. The stories of why other referees have left the game show how tough it can be.
I have worked with a referee who has had his eye socket broken when knocked unconscious by a goalkeeper after correctly giving a penalty, another whose car was keyed following a game, and a third who after showing a red card was reminded by the player: “I know where you live, remember that.”
Most referees will be the first to admit when they have got it wrong.
As with players who misplace a pass, referees know in themselves when a mistake has been made, and are happy to take some criticism for it, provided it is valid.
But for the 6,000 referees who call time on the game every year, the sheer weight of often-uneducated abuse is too much to bear.
For Callum, who previously has been threatened in a clubhouse by a player he had dismissed, these serious incidents pose serious questions about what has become acceptable:
“The threatening and imposing demeanour [of the player who threatened him] could have quite easily stopped another referee from refereeing.
"I still find it difficult to understand how the colour of the kit I wear on a match day creates a sense of entitlement to be in the firing line.
“They wouldn’t do it in the street, or if I was not wearing referee kit, so why does wearing one make such actions acceptable?”
Although a few thousand new officials are recruited every year, the embedded acceptance of this behaviour within the English game means this number could be under threat.
Consequently, the knowledge of the laws which protect our game is entrusted to an ever-shrinking number of people, and the integrity of our sport comes under threat.
Secondly, studies have shown that – unsurprisingly - abuse has an adverse effect on officiating quality.
A Swedish study in 2002 concluded that whilst referees viewed spectators as “an anonymous, ignorant mob", threat and aggression were “not negligible problems” for many referees.
The study reported that abuse negatively impacted concentration, performance levels and motivation.
It is easy to draw a conclusion, then, that irrational criticism – which does little to rectify the mistakes referees are criticised for apparently making – actually has an ironically self-defeating outcome.
Only last year, a 14-year old in Nottinghamshire was diagnosed as having suffered a nervous breakdown due to abuse suffered from parents and coaches.
Even almost 20 years after the Swedish study was published, the need for urgent education – and the impact that a lack of it has on even the youngest in our game – remains clear.
Changing the culture
Attempts to improve the transparency of decision-making have thus far achieved little. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) – aimed at helping correct glaring errors in application of law – has received as much criticism as on-pitch referees. A YouGov poll in February showed that only 27% thought it was working well.
Yet only 15% thought it should be scrapped, showing a clear appetite in the footballing world for the “right” decisions to be made in matches.
But even with a perfect VAR system (which even I think we have not achieved just yet), without a basic understanding of the laws that VAR is built to apply, and a continued lack of knowledge within English football about the rules of our own game, criticism over perceived incompetence and ignorance towards referees – and the culture that brings with it – will persist.
Referees are also the subject of questions on transparency.
Many have speculated why referees, the FA and the PGMOL often remain silent, and a greater referee presence in the media could well improve acceptance of decisions.
But there are risks to this too. If a referee utilises law to explain decisions, without an understanding amongst the audience that is the wider football community of what that law is, referees’ explanations of big decisions in front of the press could fall on deaf ears.
For referees themselves, including Olly – who until last season was an assistant referee in League 1 and League 2 - there remains some scepticism:
“I’ve always thought that referees should be able to explain their decisions post-match and that it would help their credibility.
“However, now I’ve had a bit more exposure to the professional game and a bit more life experience - and knowing what the press/media are capable of - I don’t necessarily think this would be the best way forward.
"I think it would be better to introduce more ex-referees into punditry, but you have to be careful with who you pick for those type of roles.
“It’s a tough balancing act.”
The question of whether referees should begin to face the media is one to be mulled over, but certainly unlikely for the time being.
But whatever the solution, a greater understanding is needed to remove the ignorance which threatens the nature of our game.
However, for many in black, that solution is far beyond the horizon.
The future of the game
A week on from my game in the East Midlands, I was refereeing a fairly uneventful game between the U18 teams of two EFL clubs.
Amidst the post-match handshakes, the home manager - although complimentary - started his feedback with: “You made less mistakes than you normally do ref.”
Brilliant, thanks.
The away manager, on the other hand, was noticeably annoyed with me during the game.
Afterwards, he may as well have called me a cheat, but instead asked his opposite number which stand I had my season ticket in.
For the record, I have never had a season ticket.
Fortunately, the backhanded compliments and barefaced insults, although sometimes vociferous, do not stop thousands of referees from doing something they love week in, week out.
But the threat posed to our game by this entitled culture football has developed is a genuine one.
As has been shown, headline acts of violence against referees are just the tip of the iceberg of a wider culture of abuse, threatening the number and the quality of officials who, love them or loathe them, are vital to the game itself.
English football, and perhaps football worldwide, must look inwards if it seeks to address these issues.
All involved in the sport must seek to look past the emotion that inevitably comes with it to see the game in a more rational, and therefore fairer, way.
Referees never ask for everyone to agree with them or their decisions, but instead for everyone to accept and respect both them, and their decisions.
Mistakes are a part of football, and they will be for as long as humans are involved in it.
At times, criticism is very much warranted.
But once fans are allowed to return to stadiums again, spare a thought for those in black.
Take a second to try to understand why a decision has been made. Take another to flick through the laws and learning the rationale for the decisions that cause so much controversy.
There is even an app for them, if one is ever inclined to do some bedtime reading.
If that rationale is genuinely flawed, and the referee does deserve criticism, at least know why you are criticising them, beyond a mere belief that calling them a “w****r” is somehow warranted.
As this new culture threatens to spoil the sport, all of us can do something to keep the game beautiful.