Did you have just a tinge of sympathy for Manchester United's Roy Keane last week, when he launched a scathing attack on the club's supporters?
I wasn't quite sure who he was having a go at. On one hand he claimed that many only turned up to have a few drinks and prawn sandwiches. This seemed to suggest that the target of his anger was the corporate spectators in their hospitality boxes. But then he went on to say that some of the club's supporters couldn't spell football let alone understand it, which seemed to be aimed at those traditional pie-eating fans from what were the terraces.
The reason for Roy Keane's outburst was that the team were barracked during what was generally agreed to be a poor performance in the 1-0 win over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. It must be hard to be the highest paid footballer in the country (£52,000 a week), captain of Britain's most successful team in recent years and the most profitable club in the world and yet still be booed. My reaction was that it's a good job he's not a referee. Referees get booed and name-called nearly every week.
Who could forget Manchester United's former French star, Eric Cantona, kung-fuing a spectator who called him names as he walked off the field? A lot of people thought that the spectator had brought in on himself. How would you like it, they said, if someone mouthed obscenities at you?
Compare that with an episode I witnessed a couple of years ago at the Madejski Stadium. Reading's Australian full back, Andy Bernal, pulled down an opponent inside the goal area. The opponent with the ball at his feet and less than six yards between him and the goal had what the law calls 'an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Not only did the referee give a penalty kick but also, quite rightly, showed Bernal the red card.
But as the referee came off at half time, he met with a torrent of abuse. One spectator ran down to the front, his face contorted with hate and hurled the most mindless violent obscenities at the top of his voice. And this was because the referee had done something that was correct and indeed for the benefit of the game. I remember thinking at the time, it's a good job he's not shouting at Eric Cantona or he might have got a filled football boot in his mouth. I wonder if the spectator could spell the words he was using. The referee of course ignored it all and continued walking down the tunnel.
Does this mean that referees are superhumans with the proverbial thick skin? Certainly referees have to learn to overcome abuse from spectators without reacting, although it is not easy.
I remember after refereeing a game at Kings Meadow and sitting in what passed as changing rooms, when another referee came in and said 'That's it. I'm packing it in'. Apparently some spectator had called him a name and he had to restrain himself from punching his accuser in the mouth. A very good referee but he was right, he lacked the temperament and sooner or later he would have landed himself in trouble.
It's a fact that the biggest drop-out of referees is in their first two years. The most quoted reason during this time for hanging up the whistle is the abuse from players and spectators. If
referees carry on after that time they are probably hooked for a good few years. So I suppose that most referees who would be likely to react don't persist. But being foul mouthed is still not very pleasant, so how do referees put up with it? Personally I take a similar line to Roy Keane. I've always consoled myself with the thought that my detractors know nothing about football and even less about the laws of the game.
Dick Sawdon Smith