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'A referee will end up killed': Football official kicked in head and knocked out fears abuse will become fatal
22 December 2022, 13:18 | Updated: 22 December 2022, 13:27
A referee from Wigan, who was attacked and knocked unconscious during a match in Lancashire, says the levels of abuse at grassroots level are out of control.
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Dave Bradshaw was taking charge of a cup game in October when he was kicked in the head and left with broken ribs, concussion and badly damaged mental health.
He told LBC News: "All I know is a player has kicked me in the face. He done a scissor-kick and knocked me straight out.
"My mental health has been horrendous. It knocked me for six. I was just a bag of nerves. I don't go out as much, but if I do I just go local with friends so I feel safe. My mental health is smashed through the window.
"Change needs to come because I fear a referee will end up being killed, and then it's too late."
He added: "Referee abuse has gone a lot, lot worse.
"A lot of it is at youth level, parents screaming at them and it's affecting the kids. The abuse, the language, referees being threatened left, right and centre, it's worse than ever.
Wigan referee talks impact of assault on him during match
"Bodycams are the answer. Sanctions need to be bigger. Fines need to be bigger, not just a slap on the wrist. Maybe even going into the schools and teaching children at a young age."
Barry Cropp has been a referee in Blackpool for 28 years and is the Referee Appointments Officer for the West Lancashire Leagues.
He told LBC News: "We are seeing more (abuse) now than we have done before. We've seen experienced referees packing up and walking away from the game.
"A referee recently, at a high level, contacted me at half time of a game and said that he would be withdrawing his registration because of what happened in the first 45 minutes.
"People, clubs, leagues, the FA need to look at it and say "what can we do?" to say this isn't acceptable. The only way you can do it is to punish people who are responsible for these actions.
"Society's changing. We've gone from "Be Kind" two and a half years ago, we're now, I'd say, a very entitled society where everyone thinks they're right and they deserve better than everyone else. That is naturally going to filter onto a football field when we play a game of football."
On Merseyside, leagues have been suspended in recent weeks because officials have had enough of the abuse. Ben Speedie from the Liverpool County FA told LBC: "You don't want to turn up to work for me to scream and shout at you because I disagree with you. It's just not normal.
"Abuse in any walk of life is not acceptable. It's about the education of spectators, leagues and what we can do within the remit of disciplinary regulations to enforce them for those who are victims, and for us to come down as hard as we can.
"Enough's enough. Any referee that's subject to abuse has my full support on what they want to do."
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Toby Macormac is the chairman of Warrington Town and recently experienced a member of the crowd swapping the goalkeeper's drinks bottle for a bottle of urine.
"The whole thing was a major disappointment that something so premeditated can happen," he said.
"Terrace behaviour is on the downward spiral.
"On Instagram, you have pages with post after post of poor terrace behaviour. Platforms are allowing these posts. The bottle-swap at our ground had 1.5 million views on those platforms. That needs to change, because if it doesn't, terrace behaviour is going to get worse."
