Referee: "I was told I would be stabbed." Henry McKean goes undercover at youth football match

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Referee: "I was told I would be stabbed." Henry McKean goes undercover at youth football match

Today the Oireachtas Committee on Sport are discussing the abuse of referees in football, GAA and Rugby. It’s been over 2 weeks since the underage football referee strike because of an increased amount of verbal and physical abuse from players, coaches and parents. Two-thirds of referees quit within two years due to abuse, the FAI will tell an Oireachtas Committee today. Abuse is the main reason why they step away from the game. In its opening statement the Irish Soccer Referees Society say there have been three cases of assault in the last two months. The players were suspended for 12 months each. We wanted to find out if things had improved since the strike, so we sent along Henry McKean to some matches.

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Referee: "I was told I would be stabbed." Henry McKean goes undercover at youth football match