Parent 'threatened to stab referee' at youth football game in Surrey

Football: Referees are at risk, according to a youth league chairman
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Mark Chandler24 February 2016
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A parent threatened to stab a referee and a linesman was headbutted at youth football matches in Surrey.

The incident sparked warnings that match officials could die when officiating childrens' football games.

Graham Ekins, the Surrey Youth League chairman, wrote to clubs in the area saying Sunday morning matches could be put at risk by a rise in abusive behaviour towards officials.

During one recent weekend, a referee was told he could be knifed, a parent headbutted a volunteer linesman and youth players threatened to destroy a changing room.

Mr Ekins wrote: “Would you want your name associated with a children’s competition that resulted in the death of someone as a consequence of violence?

"Don't believe it wouldn't happen. It did to a linesman at a children's match in the Netherlands three or four years ago. If this continues I fear that this may be the result here.”

The chairman, whose league includes around 11,500 youngsters, said those involved should be “ashamed of themselves”.

He wrote: “You as clubs and all people involved in trying to voluntarily run children’s football need to take back control from thugs and idiots that are doing a great job of spoiling Sunday mornings for children and then occupying league officers’ time for the rest of the week while we clear the mess up.”

A Surrey County FA spokesman said: "We are aware of the recent press coverage arising from last weekend's football matches.

“We have begun to investigate the incidents through our Raising Standards Working Group which works closely with youth leagues to ensure allegations of this nature are thoroughly investigated and charged under FA regulations."

An FA spokesman said: "Incidents of dissent are never pleasant - and the notion that they are in any way part and parcel of the game is one that the Respect programme was established to dispel.

"With a significant drop in the occurrence of this type of caution over the life of the programme, it is clearly working.

"More extreme incidents such as referee assaults thankfully remain few and far between. Across an estimated 1.2 million games last season, the number of reported incidents amounted to a tiny fraction of 1 per cent - which puts the scale of the problem into context.”

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