Racial Abuse and Foul Language

I have been asked by the ECRU Discipline Committee to bring to your attention some rather disturbing matters.

1) Racial Abuse - There have been allegations of racial abuse within the game in Norfolk I will not name the clubs involved, but an investigation is currently being conducted.

You as a referee have a responsibility in this area. If you hear any racial remark , be it deemed to be light hearted banter by the perpetrator or whatever, you must in the first instance tell the person to desist from using such inappropriate behaviour and if appropriate, you may dismiss them from the playing enclosure and report the facts in the usual way. This is not a yellow card offence, but a straight red, player or spectator, there is no difference.

2) Foul Language - There has been a complaint about excessive swearing by adult players within earshot of ladies and children , and apparently young ball boys as young as 8 . It is accepted that players do use colourful language, but if this is seen as excessive get the captains to sort it out , telling them that if they don’t , you will. You have a penalty sanction for ungentlemanly conduct in the first instance. Telling an 8 year old ball boy to ‘Give me the f~#~ing ball ‘ is not deemed appropriate.

Whilst on the subject , I was refereeing a youth game recently and one of the teams thought it was ‘BIG’ to use for their line out calls certain parts of the female anatomy. They didn’t do it again after the first penalty cost them 3 points. It is not appropriate to use this terminology at any level. If that is sum total of their vocabulary and imagination TOUGH. They can change their line out calls.

You will have the full backing of the Discipline Committee and The Society Committee in such matters.

I have attached a training guide I used recently for Norfolk Magistrates on this subject. It may seem very PC gone mad, but it is designed to stimulate thought, and ideas on how to challenge such remarks.

Graham Cross