Nebraska Referee Abuse LetterPrintable

Refereee Abuse is a problem across the entire United States.   In the last three weeks, there have been at least 4 instances where youth referees working matches assigned via Pensra failed to finish a match or left in tears because of the actions of adults.    

Pensra is supporting these referees and pressuring the league to impose the US Soccer required sanctions. 

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As an example of what other parts of the country are doing in regards to the same problem, below is a letter sent out recently in Nebraska.

Nebraska Referee Development Assoc
 
It is time for serious reflection on the state of our game. A message from NRDP:
 
At the outset of this season, we established a clear mandate: every club must provide direct cooperation in identifying individuals involved in referee abuse. Our objective is non-negotiable: ensuring a safe and professional environment for the officials who make this game possible.
 
Despite this, recent weeks have seen a disturbing trend of misconduct, particularly within the U11 and U12 age groups. These divisions are the frontline of referee development. Many of these officials are kids, wearing green badges, learning to manage the game while navigating their own growth as a referee.
 
The sideline behavior we have encountered is unacceptable. Officials are being subjected to hostile sidelines, leaving them reluctant to finish their matches or return for the next. Most alarmingly, the behavior has reached a level where, on multiple occasions, youth referees have been left in tears. When a young official is driven to tears or forced out of the game by adult behavior, it is an embarrassing failure that impacts the entire soccer community.
 
To our clubs - we are moving past the phase of simple requests. Responding to incident reports with "we don't know who it was" is no longer an acceptable or valid defense. Often, your parents and coaches know exactly who is responsible; in these moments, silence is complicity. NRDP will no longer tolerate passive “cooperation”. Tracking down those who compromise the match environment is a shared responsibility.
 
Effective immediately, if a club fails to identify an individual involved in referee abuse, NRDP will seek suspension sanctions for the head coach, with penalties guided by the Referee Abuse Prevention Policy. Just as the head coach is held responsible for unidentified bench misconduct, NRDP will seek to hold them to account for the conduct of their sidelines.
 
Furthermore, if these measures do not remedy the environment, we will move to mandate "no spectator" sidelines for the offending team for a determined length of time. Should these collective remedies fail to resolve the issue, NRDP is taking active steps to explore further sanctions, similar to those employed by global leagues for fan bases that cannot act responsibly, including, but by no means limited to, tangible impacts on team standings and tournament play.
 
NRDP remains fully committed to the protection of our officials. We will not waver in our efforts to combat abuse, and we will hold unresponsive clubs and leadership accountable.
 
It is time for every club to conduct a rigorous assessment of their sidelines. You are either actively enforcing a standard of respect, or you are complicit in the problem.