This is the first in a series of articles outlining why unpaid volunteer workforces in Non League Football deserve more respect.
The face of despair: Selby Town chairman Ralph Pearse is unhappy with some referees, who he believes should show more respect.
Selby Town chairman Ralph Pearse believes there are a small minority of referees who are arrogant and need to show more respect to clubs and their volunteers.
Mr Pearse points to a few examples to outline his argument. He highlights a situation that has happened a few times where the officials haven’t bought a raffle ticket before the game, but accepted free drinks and food.
Mr Pearse told Non League Yorkshire: “Sometimes when our volunteer raffle ticket man goes up to the three officials, you either get ‘take it out of the expenses’ or ‘I’ve got no money on me’.
“We’ve even had a case where it has been said: ‘we’ll get one after the game’. Well we draw it at half-time.
“I think referees should show more respect and be a bit more enthusiastic. They should come in and say ‘hi Ralph, how are you, we’ll have a coffee and are you selling raffle tickets’?
“To me, they should try and help the club. It is a case of everyone is in it together and then you can’t say that referees aren’t putting anything back into the game. Referees get drinks before the game and we feed them well after so why can’t they put a pound in.
“Referees are the biggest expense at this level, but you can’t do without them. They get expenses anywhere they go. Myself and our volunteers go home and away and we don’t get anything.
“You also get a few arrogant ones who you can’t talk to. You ask a polite question about a decision and you get ‘no comment’ off a lot of them. Spectators pay their money and they help finance their expenses so why not answer them if they’re polite?
“Then there’s some who will have their meal and just go. Some don’t even say ‘thank you’ and to me that’s totally out of order because there is people who have slaved away in the kitchen for hours to make the food.
“They do it for the love of the game, whereas referees are taking quite a bit of money home.”
He also recalls a game last season when an assistant referee tried to persuade the referee that a perfectly playable pitch was waterlogged. The midweek match was played, but not after some aggro.
“Rather than the referee taking control and saying ‘we’re playing it’, we had a linesman chipping in saying it is a bit wet over here where he was going to be running,” Mr Pearse added.
“I don’t see how a linesman can use that argument because surely the referee should turn round and say ‘I’ll put my linesmen on the other wings’. Surely you use common sense because I don’t see how you can call a game off because one linesman might get wet?
“Fortunately that was resolved and the ref said: ‘we’re playing’. Then the assessor arrives at 7pm and says to the ref: ‘are you playing this game because it looks a bit wet to me’.
“So they carried out another pitch inspection. We did play and it ended up been a good game.
“I don’t understand why there was so much fuss, but the point is that the whole thing was unfair on the players, managers, volunteers, spectators.”