Not for me Clive: You're not fit to Referee!

You're not fit to Referee! A study conducted by Dr. Tom Webb, a Senior Lecturer at University of Portsmouth, found that more than nine in 10 referees in England have been verbally abused, with 59.7% experiencing some form of abuse every two games. The research was collated in Dr. Webbs book, Referees, Match Officials & Abuse. Dr. Webb told BBC sport in November 2020, "Abuse is still a significant issue, probably the biggest in refereeing. Mental health within referees is intrinsically tied to abuse." Referee abuse is nothing new, but it has perhaps gained new found notoriety in recent weeks following the incident involving Darren Drysdale and Alan Judge. We wanted to take a look at why referee abuse occurs, what are the implications, and what can we do as fans to help improve the situation.  If you enjoy this episode, or any of our other episodes, please pop over to apple podcasts, and give us a rating and a review.  https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/man-marking/id1506661828 You can find us on Twitter @marking_man and don't forget to use the hashtag #WheresTheTalkingLads  If you have been affected by any of the themes discussed in today's episode, we have listed some organisations below who are there if you need to talk: Samaritans  Call 116 132 for free https://www.samaritans.org/ Papyrus UK Call 0800 068 41 41 Papyrus Website CALM ZONE 0800 58 58 58 https://www.thecalmzone.net/help/helpline/