It’s too much aggression. On November 12, during an amateur football match between two senior clubs from Haute-Garonne, the referee of the match was punched and kicked. A rare aggression but which denotes an increasingly violent climate on and around the grounds, prey to many incivilities, whether among the youngest or adults.
To mark the occasion, the soccer district, which has no less than 41,000 licensees in 200 clubs, declared a weekend without a referee. The approximately 300 matches that are played each weekend on the lawns of the department will be maintained, “but the clubs will manage”, indicates Jean-Marc Sentein, the president of the district. “The authority of the referee, like that of teachers, municipal police, is less and less respected. And if the adults don’t do it, why would the children do it, ”laments this official, who has seen the acts of violence increase in the last two years.
Awareness clip and “white card”
Every weekend, out of the 300 meetings, nearly 5% experience problems of incivility, both in rural and urban areas. “In young people, it is the parents present who will challenge the decisions because they think they are at the World Cup or in the Champions League. Among the older ones we now have physical violence with days of ITT: since the resumption of the season, in September, we have had three. Before that took the form of verbal attacks, tomorrow, after the physical attacks what will it be? A news item? “, asks Jean-Marc Sentein, who assumes this decision” even if it is hard for a large majority of clubs “.
To stem this scourge of violence, these departmental authorities had already shot a clip “Touche pas à mon football” to raise awareness among parents and the youngest about respect for the values of football. And since September, the operation “white card” is in effect. When a person on the bench behaves badly, the referee can show a white card and the educator must then designate a field player who will suffer the temporary exclusion in place of the troublemaker. Work is also underway to be able, from an application, to report all serious incidents during a match by alert, whether to the refereeing corps, club presidents or the district.