Piss taking aside Andy that is a very interesting and informative post.Indeed I did. I gave up reffing Sunday league' football as there was simply too much hassle too often. Generally the players sorted out anyone that really got out of line but 'supporters' and parents were at times uncontrollable. However, the biggest problem was lack of support from those that ran the leagues - they generally sided with the manager who was invariably a mate over anything controversial; as a ref you know when you have had a good or bad game but when you were marked at 2/10 when you know you had a good game as a result of giving big decisions against a team and are subsequently censured then you know you are wasting your time.
I also got bored with making a 90 mile round trip after work to listen to a player try to and fail in appeal against a dismissal for calling me a 'cheating c*nt' or similar. They then got the arse when a mandatory ban was doubled due to the frivolous nature of the appeal - the difference between dealing with County officials compared to Sunday league committee members.
Although I was never actually physically assaulted, I was certainly concerned for my safety at times, to the extent that on one occasion I was too scared to abandon a game that had got completely out of hand, both on and off the pitch. Not worth it for giving up a weekend day and getting £45 in my pocket.
Nine games out of ten were a pleasure to officiate, but the one in ten made me think it wasn't worth it. Concentrated on Academy and semi-pro after that. Different world. Having said that, parents at Academy games were banned from making any noise during games. Made life a lot easier, both for officials and players.
As mentioned in the article, the rot starts at the top; although I personally feel that most exaggerate the behaviour of Premier League players/officials to refs it does need cleaning up. If little Johnny sees bad behaviour at that level they assume it is ok. The managers are the worst, with the pundits not too far behind.
Rugby is still a stupid game though.
Shame you fcuked it up with that last sentence.