Respect the Ref success (hope you are watching, Sir Alex and co)
Really pleased to see the results of our hard-hitting 'Respect the Ref' campaign.
This basically warned the abusive, sometimes violent, players and spectators in grassroots football that the paper would name and shame them for proven misdemeanors.
Figures revealed by the Birmingham County FA show that there were 14 attacks on referees last season, compared with 27 during the previous season and 33 the year before.
This is the lowest level since reliable records began in the 1980s.... and the FA beleive this has been helped by our 'Respect the Ref' campaign.
There can be no complacency. One attack is one too many, as is the constant string of verbal abuse received by refs.
And so the campaign will continue next season... with even more stringent shaming where necessary.
If only the likes of Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney would learn something from this and cease their constant berating of officials.
Just what do they think this arrogant attitude does to young people watching them on TV?
(4) comments so far add yours here
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Steve Dyson
Blog from the Editor on recent issues and events.
So why didn't you name the people who threatened your reporter recently? (Not a confrontational question - just curious about the mechanisms which decide what can and cannot be published.)
I think if it had been a forthright threat from named individuals we would have.
As it happened, it was made from friends/family 'with' the defendant, was not written or witnessed by anyone but the reporter concerned.
A case of a pair sidling up to the reporter and verbally saying what they said with no eye contact or direct conversation to the reporter.
A conversation that went: "I bet the reporter covering this case gets a right kicking," when it was obvious the reporter covering the case was right there.
This followed up by anon. emails and phone calls. Our normal reaction to this (it's not rare) is to ensure the case is even more prominent than it would have been (page one), and that a leader (comment) accompanies it making it clear we will not tolerate such behaviour (this happened).
The police and judge were told, and they warned the court room and folk with the defendant. The reason you know about it is this blog which is a peek behind the stories.
It wouldn't have made a story as such because it was not pinned down. But it made an insightful blog (I hope).
Thanks for the reply. Maybe I am naive but it infuriates me that behaviour like goes unpunished - although I accept what you say about the prominence you gave to the underlying story and that there was no real evidence.
I know what you mean, but I don't believe they did get away from it. As well as a quiet word in their ears from the police, their action was also referred to by the judge. And the resulting court story was emblazoned across page one. They now know it wasn't worth trying a bullying tactic.