Referees are the backbone of our sport. Quite simply, without them, there is no football. Their expertise, authority, and dedication facilitate fair play, guarantee player safety, and ensure the wide enjoyment of football across the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding regions for over 19,000 players, as well as thousands of supporters and lovers of the game.
Subjecting match officials to antisocial behaviour, harassment, and verbal or physical abuse from the sidelines or on the pitch is completely unacceptable. Both in our lawful duties as Directors under Section 11.1 of the Capital Football (CF) Constitution, and in our moral obligations as fellow human beings, we deplore this behaviour.
CF Chair, Sarah Baker-Goldsmith, said “Abuse of other people is unacceptable. Referees are people first, referees second and in both aspects subjecting them to any form of abuse whether in person or online is abhorrent, deplorable and is not part of our game.”
In addition to the implementation of targeted measures this year to combat this issue – including the Pink Armband Initiative for underage officials and our upcoming Behavioural Standards Policy – we recognise that further collaborative action with our referees, the clubs and players is necessary to eliminate the unacceptable behaviour from the game.
Earlier this week in collaboration with our referees we agreed a five-point plan of immediate actions:
- Public statement of no tolerance of referee abuse.
- CF Board to meet directly with wider referee community.
- Immediate review of Capital Football Disputes and Disciplinary Regulations (DDR) and Competition Regulations with a focus to strengthen regulations and penalties concerning referee abuse.
- Fast track our Behavioural Standards plan.
- Buddy referee for referees aged U18.
On this last point we expect all affiliated CF Clubs to immediately transmit this public statement to their club members including players, officials and supporters. Addressing abuse is the responsibility of all, players, spectators, clubs, officials, Vested Officials, Capital Football as the Governing Body. We call on everyone in the game to show support for our referees and stamp out this behaviour.
These measures mark the start of a concerted campaign, and we will continue to consider further measures such as the introduction of match commissioner and publishing the red / yellow card list.
Respect is not optional. Remaining silent in the face of abuse makes an individual complicit. Passion is no excuse for abuse.
