We’re going to run out of referees and we’re going to deserve it

We’ve all done it, haven’t we? Accused a referee of making a call incorrectly even if the unbiased evidence indicates that the decision should have gone in the other team’s favour. From the top of the game to the bottom, referees are mocked and abused for making calls that people don’t agree with.

This includes some of the elite managers in the game, with figures such as Tuchel, Klopp and Guardiola consistently blaming referees for their teams’ shortcomings. This has led to managers like former Leicester boss Nigel Pearson threatening to quit football if the standard of officiating didn’t improve, claiming that refereeing standards are “at an all-time low”.

These accusations of refereeing standards weakening may be a symptom of a much larger issue, though. Many FAs across the country have claimed that there is a mass shortage of referees, with officials often refereeing only three or four games before stepping into the competitive game.

This shortage has meant that fixtures in the amateur game are frequently postponed due to no match officials being available, leading to grassroots football struggling.

This doesn’t just impact English grassroots football, though, as leagues around the world have complained about a lack of referees, with nations such as America and Canada struggling to supplement the growing appetite for football due to a lack of officials. This is especially bad in regions of South America, where referees have been violently attacked after making controversial decisions.

The consistent complaining around refereeing decisions may lead to further declining standards

These instances may be seen as a far cry from how many fans in the UK witness football, but the English FA have confirmed that the number of referees leaving the game is far outstripping the incoming officials, with this mass exodus only being exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

While leagues like the Premier League may not struggle, as England’s top tier has started appointing foreign officials, the reasons for most referees leaving the game highlights a common causation.

The large quantity of referees citing consistent abuse as their reason for leaving their posts indicates that wholehearted changes need to be made to attitudes regarding referees. At grassroots level more than 90% of referees have experienced abuse, most of whom are under 21, so many of the people who at one point wanted to become a professional referee are deterred before their careers have even begun.

Dr Tom Webb summarised this crisis succinctly when he said: “If we lose officials, the grassroots game struggles and crumbles. And then what happens is we don’t have those officials coming in through the development pathways to have good officials at the elite level.”

This was only supported by former referee Mark Halsey who argued that “without referees, there’s no game”. He added: “County FAs have got to get tougher with the players, the coaches and the spectators that abuse these young referees because they are our future.”

It’s almost ironic how the consistent complaining around refereeing decisions may lead to further declining standards, as fewer referees will of course lead to a lower overall level of officiating.

If football fans are going to continue to treat referees this way, they can expect this trend to continue further as more and more referees depart the game. This crisis that will affect football in the coming years may not be noticed by the majority of the football watching public at the moment, but it will undoubtedly define the makeup and standards of all football at all levels and in all nations.