EXCLUSIVE – The clean-up starts HERE: FA backs Mail campaign to stop referee abuse with heftier fines for clubs on way, more touchline bans for managers and crunch talks over sin-bins and allowing only captains to approach officials

• Mail Sport has launched a campaign to help stamp out abuse of match officials 
• The FA has come out and publicly lent their support to Mail Sport’s campaign 
• Have you witnessed abuse of referees? Contact [email protected] 

The FA have backed Mail Sport’s drive to tackle the abuse of officials in football, saying: ‘Referees are the lifeblood of our game.’

Mail Sport launched a campaign this week to rid the game of the horrific treatment meted out to referees, from grassroots football to the Premier League, and the governing body are fully with us.

‘We support the Daily Mail campaign to encourage and promote respect towards them,’ an FA spokesperson said. 

‘This is also a key priority for us, and at the start of this season we introduced a series of measures to help improve the behaviour of players, managers and coaches across English football as part of our ‘Love Football, Protect The Game’ campaign. 

‘It has a clear focus on tackling unacceptable behaviour towards referees and match officials.’

Mail Sport has launched a campaign to stop the abuse of referees to help boost the game

Jurgen Klopp argues angrily with officials during Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Spurs last season

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is one of 15 Premier League managers to be booked this season

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In order to drive that home, Mail Sport can reveal that Premier League clubs have been warned they face heftier fines and their managers more touchline bans by the FA as they desperately try to crack down on referee abuse. 

The FA and top referees group, the PGMOL, spelt out the tougher approach to the Premier League and EFL clubs last week. Further talks on the subject are also planned for next week.

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We want to hear from refs who have been abused – or parents who have witnessed atrocious behaviour on the touchline

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The Premier League and EFL launched a clampdown on players and managers showing dissent during matches at the start of the season, with the threshold for yellow cards lowered and officials told to be stricter in policing behaviour in the technical area, a change which the FA now wish to extend to post-match comments.

Mikel Arteta’s outburst at St James’ Park earlier this month, in which he described Stuart Attwell’s decision to award Anthony Gordon’s winning goal for Newcastle as ’embarrassing’ and a ‘disgrace’, was raised at last week’s meeting, as was the club statement released by Arsenal the following day in which they backed their manager and called on the PGMOL to ‘urgently address the standard of officiating’ in the Premier League.

Arteta was charged with misconduct by the FA last week for using words that were ‘insulting towards match officials and/or detrimental to the game and/or bring the game into disrepute’ but Arsenal escaped without censure for endorsing the Spaniard’s comments.

In last week’s meeting, however, the FA made it clear that in future any club offering public backing to managers who have been strongly critical of referees would also be charged and face the possibility of large fines.

Arteta is believed to be contesting the FA charge on the grounds that he did not insult Attwell and VAR Andy Madley, with a decision expected from the FA by tomorrow.

Arsenal travel to Brentford on Saturday evening and Arteta could be banned from the touchline at the Gtech Community Stadium if found guilty, although a fine is another possibility.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes complains to the referee after playing Luton

The abuse of referees by managers and players will also be a hot topic when football’s lawmakers IFAB meet in London on Tuesday, with insiders saying they are determined to stamp it out, Mail Sport can reveal.

The subject will be on the agenda when IFAB meet at the five-star Sofitel Hotel near Heathrow to discuss sanctioning trials of only allowing the team captain to approach the referee – as is already the case in rugby – and 10-minute sin-bins for dissent into the higher levels of the game.

The agenda for the meeting has now been finalised, with ‘participant behaviour’ seen as a major problem which needs addressing amid an increase in aggression shown towards match officials at all levels of the football pyramid.

Statistics revealed as part of Mail Sport’s campaign show how offences for dissent have more than doubled among players and almost quadrupled among coaches in English football this season, when compared to the last campaign.

The IFAB meeting will be chaired by Ian Maxwell, chief executive of the Scottish FA, and comes ahead of next March’s AGM in Glasgow when potential changes to the laws will be discussed.

Rugby’s approach, which could be adopted in football, only allows captains to approach refs

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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