WE all know that football referees take abuse.

Up and down the country every week, officials put up with all manner of obnoxious behaviour from the touchline and stands.

It happens so often that you’ll be hard pressed to find a match when it doesn’t occur.

But the case of schoolgirl referee Emily Dyke is particularly alarming.

The 14-year-old was sworn at by parents while taking charge of both an under eights and under nines match in a local league in Cleveland.

Sadly, you read that correctly. Not the Premier League or even a semi- professional match, but a junior game.

The adults, if that’s what we can call them, watching on seemingly had no qualms with screaming obscenities at a child in front of other children.

Her crime? Not awarding a goal because she wasn’t sure if the ball had crossed the line.

I would like to say I am shocked by this but I’m not. I have heard of plenty of occasions when referees have been verbally abused at junior matches.

Without wanting to come across all pious, what sort of an example is this setting?

After all, those same parents can often be found taking their offspring to adult matches and doing the same thing.

To them, it’s how people act at football matches and that is a huge concern.

It is to Emily’s credit that she opted not to hand her whistle back following her experiences.

It would have been easy to quit but instead she posted a message on so - cial media asking parents to respect her and the job she does.

It was a courageous move but also a sad indictment on both the game and society that she felt she had to do so.

Parents might want to think again before opening their mouths next time.