We continue last week’s article with the final instalment of the Western League Podcast with Martin Cassidy, Chief Executive Officer of Ref Support UK and host of the podcast, local sports reporter and commentator, Ian Nockolds, as they talk about some of the issues referees face. A big thank you to Ian for sharing this with The Journal.

Ian Nockolds: “It strikes me Martin, as with so much of your work, you’re highlighting issues that have plagued referees and match officials for many, many years. And I think one of the things that with this, in 2020, with the lockdowns that we’ve had, with the COVID interruptions, fans have really felt the loss of football. But actually, the sorts of mental health issues that that’s thrown up because of the loss of our weekly routine, to go to football on a Saturday and see our friends, actually gives us a window into the world of match officials who, for decades, have been abused, both from people in the dugouts, on the pitch, and on the sidelines.

“So, if we’re feeling low, if we’re feeling bad as fans and we’re missing our friends, and we want to go to the game on Saturday, actually, perhaps we need to take a moment to think about how low we’re feeling now, and the next time we abuse a match official, next time we shout something, realise that actually we’re just passing that negativity on to another human being.”

Martin Cassidy: “You’re spot on. The majority of people in football are brilliant. Some of the clubs I talk to, like I said, I have a good relationship with Shepton Mallet, Warminster, Cheddar, Street, Bishops Lydeard. Cracking clubs, absolutely cracking clubs, but then they don’t control their social media.

“What happens is that the small minority is becoming bigger, and bigger and bigger. And referees are just classed as fair game. They don’t see us, they see us as a uniform. They don’t see us as an individual. Someone once said: ‘Ah, referees, you know, they’ll mess up a game, they’ll give a dodgy penalty, and they’ll forget about it!’ No, no, that doesn’t happen. Trust me. It doesn’t happen.

“The reason players and managers and clubs think that happens is because the referees are told not to go on social media. We had an example where there’s a referee, there is a video out on Twitter, where the referee, and the ball of the penalty, the ball hit the bar, a la 1966, bounced down and went over the line. Never give the goal.

“Now, there was someone behind the goal, with a phone videoing it. And it was over the line by absolutely miles, two metres. He went on Twitter. And he said, ‘Look, I want to apologise to the club. Clearly I got this wrong.’ Now, we jumped on that, thought that was absolutely wonderful. Brilliant. That’s what we want. We want us to admit we’re wrong. We want us to build those bridges.

“We invited him on to our Final Whistle podcast, which is something we do, very popular. His County FA told him not to go on, told him not to go on and don’t do that again. Now, how does that benefit the game? How does that build better relationships with football clubs? When all we want is to get things right? And all we want is to admit when we’re wrong, and then when we do it, the County FA tell us not to do it. I was really, really angry about that. And that’s a small example where I think the bridges between clubs and referees really need to be stronger.

“Trust us, referees don’t make a mess of things intentionally. And when they do make a mess of things and they find out they’ve made a mess of things; dodgy penalty, dodgy red card, whatever, I can tell you this, we stew on it. When injuries happen in our game and we haven’t booked anyone, we stew on it. And the problem is, like I said, fans and clubs and players think we don’t because we’re not allowed to share our views on social media, which is where we come in. This is why we’re independent and we’re wanting more of this communication going on between clubs, players and referees, both ways – positively and negatively.

IN: “Martin, I could quite happily chat football with you all day, because it’s fantastic to hear what you’ve got to say. You know, I don’t say this purely because you’re on the podcast, but the work that your organisation does for match officials, I think is truly outstanding work. I know you’ve got a lot of time for the Toolstation Western League and I hope that we can continue to support the fantastic work you do. You did mention your podcast there. And I know that there’ll be people listening to this who want to hear more from you, more time than I can give you I’m afraid, so, can you tell us a little bit about the podcasts that you’re involved with?”

MC: “The podcast is three of us. There’s myself, from Ref Support UK, there’s Anthony Canavan, who runs a thing called the Referees Forum, which is a bit like Paddy Power, as well, everyone’s having a crack on there. Another lad called Nathan Sherratt, who does the third team, all on Twitter, and the third team was all about mental resilience.

“We’ve had managers on, we’ve had psychologists on, we’ve had referees in from abroad on, we had a doctor on.

“Dr. Tom Webby proved through a UEFA academic paper that you’re seven times more likely to get abuse and threatened in England than you are in Holland and France. Shameful, shameful information. That isn’t us coming from a biased point of view, this is an academic paper by someone who’s never refereed. So we know there’s loads to do. We want to try and help referees, all free, and assistant referees, become the best they can. And if they’re not good enough, let’s not kick them off, let’s make them better like you would with a player. Let’s give them support, let’s give them some guidance, and that’s where we sit with it.

“I’ve been involved in the Western League now, for nearly 28 years. Started as a liner, started as a ref. When I worked at Wembley, I was a coach. I never assessed because I don’t really believe in assessing, if I’m honest.

“I love the Western League, they gave me a good chance. And there’s so many good, good people out there in the Western League. Sometimes, the small minority spoil it for the league by some of their behaviour, but by and large, I love going to Western League football, and long may it remain to go forward and progress, and be the positive league that it is.”

IN: “Excellent Martin, what a wonderful way to finish. Thank you very much.”