An angry Thomas Tuchel at Real Madrid. The Bayern manager’s criticisms of the referee, Szymon Marciniak, were followed by online abuse from fans.An angry Thomas Tuchel at Real Madrid. The Bayern manager’s criticisms of the referee, Szymon Marciniak, were followed by online abuse from fans.“Szymon Marciniak you son of a whore”. “Don’t come to Germany for your safety.” “How much money did you get?” “FUCK YOU MARCINIAK YOU DISGUSTING BASTARD #RMAFCB.”last week.
So how do we fix this? That is what Barnes, Nicholas-Wynne and Riley wanted to thrash out in their session at the conference, entitled Sport’s Overlooked Blind Spot: Addressing Abuse Against Match Officials. And tentatively there was a sliver of light amid the darkness, of more sports wanting to lance a festering boil, and having sharper tools to do it.
A second related point: players at grassroots level copy what goes on at elite level. Therefore the tone from the top is vital. Riley hailed English football for “leading the way” in introducing heavier fines for when players crowd officials – including Manchester City receiving a £120,000 punishment during their 3-3 draw with Tottenham last December.
There was another point that struck home when chatting to Nicholas-Wynne. For all the criticism of technology in sport, one unappreciated benefit is that it has lowered the number of game-altering mistakes by referees and umpires – which, in theory, should lead to less abuse. Sure, it is not always that simple. But before Hawk-Eye, how many times were line judges snarled at by top tennis stars? Technology has clearly helped cricket and rugby too.