FOOTBALL referees have traditionally been the pantomime villain and butt of jokes, writes Stuart Bryan.

However, a recent survey of football referees indicates the banter and humour of jokes is being increasingly lost to a nastier form of abuse.

The match official can even become the butt of a forehead, which is what happened recently to Manchester referee Ryan Hampson.

Hampson, who was just 17 years old when the assault happened, met with senior Football Association officials at Wembley to highlight the level of abuse referees receive and how the officials can get more protection.

Locally, a Worcester Sunday league game this season resulted in one of the players being given a five-year ban for assaulting a referee.

The assailant had allegedly placed the referee in a headlock after being sent off for foul and abusive language.

Worcester league referee Dave Etheridge believes the level of abuse directed towards referees is not significantly worse than in the past.

Etheridge, who has 12 years’ experience as an official, said: "Referees have the tools to act immediately and be aware of their collective responsibility to ensure abusive behaviour is instantly addressed.

"Referees must set an example in how they behave and need to build a rapport with all involved as soon as they arrive at the ground."

The FA recognised unacceptable behaviour within all aspects of the game needed to be formally addressed and in 2008 launched the Respect Campaign.

With regards to match officials, the campaign aimed to confront the verbal and physical abuse which was identified as a growing concern.

Etheridge doesn’t believe the Respect campaign has been effective in reducing referee abuse and when Hampson was assaulted he reported receiving no automatic FA support.

The lack of support given to referees has led to the setting up of national charity Referee Support.

Supporting referees across all sports, the charity has over 1,500 members and also helps non-members.

When asked why referee abuse was on the rise, chief executive Martin Cassidy identified three major reasons.

He said: "Society has become more aggressive and less tolerant, up to semi-professional level referees get paid more than players creating higher expectations from participants and more abuse is reported than previously."

To improve referee support, Cassidy has overseen a Love the Whistle campaign, recommending the introduction of banning orders for physical assault and automatic police involvement and the use of welfare officers and more support at disciplinary hearings.

Cassidy was also open to the use of referees wearing body cameras and pitch marshals acting as a buffer between officials and match-day participants.

Etheridge would also like to see ‘sin-bins’ introduced where players could be sent to for 10 minutes.

Despite Hampson organising a grassroots referee strike on March 4 and 5 with approximately 1,000 referees pledging support, both Cassidy and Etheridge emphasise many referees are still enjoying their role as much as ever and the majority of players and clubs are well behaved.

For more details about the support charity, visit www.refsupport.co.uk.