LAST weekend, amateur football referees across the country put down their whistles and joined a strike.

They were protesting against the abuse they receive from players, children and even parents. Anyone who has been to an amateur game involving any age will know that players and spectators sometimes have absolutely no control of themselves, taking out their feelings on the ref.

There are threats of violence and post-match retribution and the reality is this all comes down directly from Premiership players and their behaviour. Youngsters and adults, presumably with issues of their own, feel that it’s perfectly fine to hurl abuse at the person in charge of the match because their heroes do this regularly.

The proof of this is that rugby referees of all levels tend not to be abused in the same way because professional players at the top level don’t. Football needs to clean up its act.