A former referee has now revealed how a player once fetched a knife in order to try and stab him, while another match official revealed how he needed surgery following an altercation with a player.
After the recent controversy involving referees and the criticism levelled at them by managers, players and fans alike, the host of the It's All Kicking Off (IAKO) podcast Chris Sutton – who played for England, Chelsea and Aston Villa, among other teams, during his playing career – has insisted that the abuse towards referees is worsening across all levels and that the issue needs to be sorted out at the top.
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"Across the board, football needs to take responsibility on this one... It starts with Premier League players and Premier League managers showing respect to referees and officials.," Sutton said during a recent episode, per the Daily Mail.
"And I have got to say, in recent seasons the abuse towards officials seems to be, in my mind, getting worse. And that's my concern."
It is said that the number of active match officials in England have declined by a third in the past five years, and perhaps this is not surprising when one hears of the experience 25-year-old Rhys Baldwin went through as he explained why he decided to call time on his 11-year career as a referee on the same podcast.
"I was refereeing a five-a-side game and Team A captain ran up to me screaming in my face and called me a bunch of names. So I gave him a red card," Baldwin said, per the Daily Mail.
"He went off the pitch, went into his bag, pulled out a Stanley box cutter knife and stormed on to the pitch towards me.
"His own teammates basically rugby-tackled him to the floor and pinned and pulled him outside the gate. I locked the gate and I said I'm not leaving until this guy is dealt with.
"I spoke to the guy in charge and he asked me not to call the police and, foolishly, I agreed. He said I would get an apology next week. But I didn't get an apology. He threatened to knock my head off.
"I dropped the cards on the floor and walked off. I never went back."
Baldwin also revealed that he made the decision to hang up his whistle after the father of a 12-year-old boy threatened to kill him at the end of a cup match.
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Another referee, George Sleigh, went on to reveal how badly he was assaulted before he quit the profession.
"I was physically assaulted. I was still at university but was reffing to a good standard two or three times a week. I was doing some five-a-side refereeing like a lot of us did and I abandoned a game one night because of the level of abuse towards me," he explained on the podcast.
"I ended up with a broken jaw. I had to have surgery and had two metal plates in. The guy who did it got a suspended prison sentence.
"This was refereeing guys who were supposed to be playing for fun. The guy was standing outside.
"I had already sent him off for his use of language towards me and then a while later I abandoned the game. That fella just walked up to me without warning and assaulted me.
"I was in hospital for three or four days. After that, I just lost the love for it really."
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