09/21/2026
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Why are we so obsessed with calling referees “bad” in youth sport?
Somewhere along the way, youth football developed a habit. When something goes against us, the referee becomes the easiest person to blame.
Not the performance, decisions players made, or even the he things coaches can actually control but the referee.
There's something important we seem to forget, many referees in youth football are children themselves.
Recent FA research reported that 73% of newly recruited referees were under 18, with around 5,000 starting at just 14 or 15 years old.
The adults shouting (often aggressively), questioning (often sarcastically), criticising, or calling “useless” may indeed be a child.
These teenagers are still learning and at the beginning of their refereeing journey, often just like the players.
Research from the University of Chichester, conducted in association with The FA, explored the experiences of U18 referees and found clear benefits from officiating.
Young referees described developing:
• Confidence and self-belief
• Communication and people-management skills
• Empathy
• The ability to work under pressure
• Greater responsibility
• A potential career pathway in football.
These are exactly the qualities we often say youth sport should help develop, but look at the environment some young referees are expected to develop them in.
The same research found that youth officials experienced abuse regularly, predominantly verbal, but also threats, physical incidents and adults entering the pitch to confront them.
⤷ One young referee described receiving some form of abuse from sidelines, coaches or players in virtually every game above U13 level.
⤷ A parent described their child becoming so mentally drained during a match that he was close to tears.
Perhaps most concerningly, the study found that abuse was becoming normalised, with young officials prepared from the start to anticipate and manage it.
We are teaching children how to manage adult abuse instead of challenging why that behaviour is happening.
⛔ Retention adds another concern.
In Ireland, the FAI reported that, anecdotally, it loses 66% of newly qualified referees within two years of completing the beginner course.
Its exit interviews identified referee abuse as the main reason for stopping.
If football wants more referees, creating an environment they want to remain in has to be part of the solution.
• Adults will disagree with decisions
👉 So will players
• Referees will make mistakes.
👉 So will coaches
A missed throw-in is not an injustice or a tight offside is not corruption.
A decision you disagree with does not remove an adult’s responsibility for how they behave.
Calling someone a “bad referee” does not give anyone permission to shout at, intimidate or humiliate them.
Especially when that referee may still be a child. Youth sports need an environment where people can learn.
The player miscontrols the ball.
⤷ We let them try again.
The goalkeeper makes the wrong decision.
⤷ We develop them.
The coach gets something wrong.
⤷ We reflect and improve.
So why do we expect perfection when the learner is holding a whistle?
Young referees are learning and are we letting them?
