as jane dougall reports. you re always one decision away from a smack in the mouth. i ve had people comment on my chest in the middle of a game. it could be threats i against your family, and it is getting worse and worse and worse. | at grassroots level, the abuse of officials across the country has risen to breaking point. threatening i m going to smash you up at the end of the game, just you wait. ryan crabtree referees forjunior and men s leagues in pendleton and north yorkshire. he s been assaulted multiple times. after the game, a group of men, when i were a teenager, chased me out of the changing room, out onto the field, and i ve had to then run down a back street. hide, basically. do you fear for your safety? all the time. every single weekend. a bbc questionnaire, sent to 7,000 members of the referees association in england, found that of the 927 who responded, 908 had experienced verbal abuse
headbutted and spat at, as jane dougall reports. you re always one decision away from a smack in the mouth. i ve had people comment on my chest in the middle of a game. it could be threats i against your family, and it is getting worse and worse and worse. | at grassroots level, the abuse of officials across the country has risen to breaking point. threatening i m going to smash you up at the end of the game, just you wait. ryan crabtree referees forjunior and men s leagues in pendleton and north yorkshire. he s been assaulted multiple times. after the game, a group of men, when i were a teenager, chased me out of the changing room, out onto the field, and i ve had to then run down a back street hide, basically. do you fear for your safety? all the time. every single weekend. a bbc questionnaire, sent to 7,000 members
dominic hughes, bbc news. hundreds of grassroots football referees in england have told the bbc that they fear for their safety on the pitch. out of almost a thousand referees who responded to a bbc radio 5 live questionnaire, just under 300 said they d been physically abused by spectators, players, coaches or managers. some described being punched, headbutted and spat at, as jane dougall reports. you re always one decision away from a smack in the mouth. i ve had people comment on my chest in the middle of a game. it could be threats i against your family, and it is getting worse and worse and worse. | at grassroots level, the abuse of officials across the country has risen to breaking point. threatening i m going to smash you up at the end of the game, just you wait. ryan crabtree referees forjunior and men s leagues in pendleton and north yorkshire. he s been assaulted multiple times.
headbutted and spat at. jane dougall is here to tell us more. the statistics are pretty damning, how widespread is this? well anecdotally the abuse is commonplace. so many stories have been difficult to hear but i m going to run you through the stats first. of the 927 who responded to this questionnaire, 908 said most had experienced verbal abuse. unacceptable, but perhaps not surprising. what was astonishing was the 293 who said they d been physically assaulted. now i ve spoken to a few amateur referees about theirs and it s been a real eye opener. one in particular, ryan crabtree who referees in land transfer was chased off the pitch by a whole team. he had to hide down an alleyway and understandably he was terrified. some referees even say that the parents at children s matches are even worse. i spoke to megan belcher, who was officiating at an under 14 smacks, and she was