Increasing violence against referees: American sports as a role model for conditions in football

They happened again yesterday in the Champions League: derogatory gestures, verbal attacks, pack formations. Attacks that all had one target: the referee. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, after all, referees are fair game in football. You have to put up with almost everything. From disrespect on the field to insults from spectators to slander online. And sometimes even physical violence, as the shocking example in the Turkish Super Lig last Monday showed.

The fact that the brutal attack on referee Halil Umut Meler is not without consequences for the perpetrator, Ankaragücü president Faruk Koca (and will hopefully also have criminal consequences), is of little comfort. Because it does not alter the fact that hardly a football match goes by in which the referee is not the victim of hostility. Usually in verbal form, but increasingly also in physical form. Former world-class referee Pierluigi Collina even speaks of a “cancer” that has affected football.

And let’s be honest: who among us amateur footballers hasn’t attacked or at least taken the referee to task when he felt he was being treated unfairly? Or did you, as a fan in the stadium, express your displeasure when your own team was allegedly disadvantaged? Most of us would say it’s part of the process and not as bad as it sometimes sounds. Yet it is the breeding ground for a culture in which fair play is regularly flouted.

In American sports, the referee is untouchable

A look at American sports shows there is another way. Football, basketball, baseball – here the referee is literally untouchable. The rule that the referee’s decisions must be respected without exception (yes, that exists in football too) is adhered to by athletes and fans alike. Which doesn’t mean there aren’t controversies between players and referees.

This past weekend, NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes was thrown out of control after the officials canceled his Kansas City Chiefs’ supposed game-winning touchdown against the Buffalo Bills on an offsides pass from the quarterback. Mahomes cursed and gestured at the officials and threw his helmet on the ground in his anger. The difference with football? Afterwards, there was discussion for days about Mahomes’ inappropriate behavior and hardly any about the referees’, at the very least, borderline decision.

Mahomes apologizes

A lack of respect for game officials can quickly lead to social exclusion in American sports culture. That’s why Mahomes now repents: “Of course that doesn’t work. I can’t deal with the referees or anyone else in that kind of life.” Mind you, after a scene that happens dozens of times every football weekend.

One would hope for such an insight from one of the star players when, in the heat of the moment, the referee was once again made the scapegoat for their own defeat. A gentle “It’s my own fault” instead of the usual kicking at the referee – it can’t really be that difficult. And if the monster from Ankara is banished from the sport for life, the first small step towards a more respectful football future would be taken.