Will body

The Football Association hopes the trial, involving approximately 100 referees officiating in adult matches will test whether the technology will lead to an improvement in behaviour of those taking part in matches, and see greater respect towards the men and women who give up their weekends to ensure that games happen.

We’re hearing more these days about the unacceptable levels of abuse levelled at amateur referees, with grim warnings that things are getting so bad that we could see a death as a result.

This subject has, quite rightly, dominated football phone-ins recently with some callers suggesting that the abuse of folk wearing black polyester and a whistle is something relatively new and further evidence of a decline in overall standards in British life. Those of us with long memories will tell you that simply isn’t true.

Back in the early 1990s, I finally accepted that the only things I had in common with England’s Chris Waddle was an iffy mullet and an uncanny knack of skying penalty kicks high over the crossbar so I gave up on my dream of making it as a professional footballer. However, my ambitions of having a future in the higher reaches of the Beautiful Game remained undiminished as I convinced myself that I would make a cracking referee. How wrong I was.

After a few months of soul-sapping night classes, I took ownership of a shiny new kit, complete with my local FA’s badge and that was it; at the age of 15 I was qualified to take charge of children’s league matches.

To say that I was ill-prepared is an understatement of epic proportions and it wasn’t long before I realised that I really wasn’t cut out for the responsibility that had been bestowed upon me. In truth, I wasn’t very good at it either and this glaring lack of ability left me exposed to the wrath of angry 10-year-olds with tramline haircuts, not to mention their parents.

Watching your child develop on a football pitch should be magical and a source of great pride but for a significant minority, it turns them into touchline monsters, who harangue and harass the poor devil in the middle of the park at every opportunity. The final straw for me came in a six-a-side tournament about a year after I gained my badge when, in one particular 10 minute match, I endured so much abuse from one little darling and the neanderthal he called dad that I halted the game in a bid to regain control.

It was a tactic that backfired spectacularly and resulted in me being lifted off my feet by the aforementioned oaf after he took exception to me asking him bluntly to tone down his behaviour. Although I wasn’t hurt, it was an incident which shook my confidence so badly that a few ‘friendlies’ aside, I was done with refereeing by the age of 16.

My bad experience 30 years ago didn’t diminish my love of football, but I haven’t ever felt the urge to become involved in the grassroots game since and I don’t suppose I’m the only person to feel this way.

Sport at the lowest level depends upon people giving up their spare time and there’s little doubt that people will be put off from doing this if they continue to hear horror stories about the abuse levelled at hobby refs on a weekly basis.

Body cams are ok if they lead to real change but is every ref in the country really going to be issued with a shiny piece of expensive kit? Referees have long come in for unacceptable stick but now is the time to kick it into touch permanently.