ANY right-minded person will be disgusted, if sadly not shocked, by the homophobic abuse sent to referee Marcus Griffiths on social media.
Stuff like that is never acceptable in any walk of life, but it’s more encouraging that so many people have given him their support.
Refereeing is a difficult job at the best of times, and of course, without officials, there would be no game.
We haven’t got that many as it is, and anything which puts people off signing up in the first place is clearly a concern.
However, I don’t want to see a situation where it becomes impossible to question the performances of officials, as long, of course, as it’s done in a proper and reasonable way.
We don’t want a scenario where anyone involved in the game, be they those running it, coaches, players or officials, is above scrutiny.
For whatever reason (or reasons), I don’t think officials are held in the respect they used to be.
I also think some of their authority has been taken away, but that they don’t help themselves.
Sometimes there appears to be too much matiness with players, with referees coming across as if they want to be part of the entertainment, whereas the best whistlers are those who are seldom noticed or talked about.
I’m not sure the suggestion that under the new Sky deal, there will be a video referee at every match, will help either.
As with VAR in football, it takes away spontaneity, which is a key element in making sport such great drama and stretches matches out well beyond the 80/90-minute mark.
It also acts as a crutch for referees, who should have the crystals to make a decision and stick by it, not feel they have to go to the video-referee just because the option is there.
Sometimes they will get it wrong, but that’s always been part of sport.
And referees should make more use than they appear to do of their touch judges, with officials working as a team.
