Halifax teenage referee pleads for body cams after suffering abuse from men twice his age

Taylor Shaw, 17, said it was "scary" taking charge of amateur men's league games due to the "horrendous" insults he has faced from adult teams.

The schoolboy pointed to one sickening instance in his home town of Halifax, where a player screamed in his face "f**k you" during a match.

He said other competitors had made nasty personal attacks on his character - leaving him questioning his ambitions to be a professional official.

Taylor feels the FA is not doing enough to safeguard him and other match officials following multiple incidents of alleged assaults in the grassroots matches.

And while recording equipment is outlawed by the International Football Association Board's 'Laws of the Game', he feels it is needed to clamp down on bad behaviour.

Taylor said: "In no workplace would it be acceptable to get up in somebody's face.

"It's not acceptable anywhere, but on a football pitch, a 40-year-old male can get in the face of a 17-year-old boy and nobody bats an eyelid.

"It's a scary and lonely place because it's you against everybody, and that's how people see a referee. Whereas we turn up, and we are on both teams.

"The FA allows me to referee where I'm still classed as a child and there are 22 adults on that pitch.

"This is their responsibility, and they're not taking responsibility, they're not protecting me. They're not allowing me to protect myself if I can't wear a camera."

An FA spokesperson said a trial of body cameras for referees announced in February 2023 had been extended to cover further regions of grassroots football into 2025.

Taylor's call comes as The Cardiff Referees Association refused to oversee grassroots games after one of their officials was allegedly assaulted in October.

The group said: "There is no way this behaviour on, and off, the pitch can continue, and it is hoped that this unprecedented action will send a clear message."

While local league footballing officials in Scotland also reportedly considered strike action in September after a referee was headbutted and punched at a game.

English referee Dave Bradshaw suffered a broken nose, four broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a broken collarbone and a concussion at a game in October 2022.

He was assaulted after he gave a player a red card in a South Lancashire County game between Platt Bridge and Wigan Rose.

The FA's most recent figures revealed show there were a whopping 1,451 allegations of abuse against referees from 2022 to 2023 in grassroots football in England.

The body said 72 of these involved an actual or attempted assault, 391 concerned actual or attempted physical contact and 988 related to threatening officials.

Taylor's dad Karl Shaw, 43, agreed that the FA should be taking the safety of its referees more seriously after witnessing his son's abuse.

He added: "Me and Taylor, we don't want to change the passion of the game, that can stay and it needs to because it's football.

"All it needs is for a little bit more respect between a human-to-human interaction.

"You can have passion, but the moment it gets aggressive, that's not passion anymore."

Taylor has his level six FA refereeing qualifications and has spent two years earning the respect of teams in local grassroots leagues.

But he said the worst instance of abuse he has faced so far came during a Halifax & District AFL game in October, which is open to players aged 18 to 45.

He had to officiate the game alone on a pitch where the lines had not been marked, making his task extremely difficult.

But instead of enjoying the match in good spirits, he said the fans and players had verbally attacked him from his first whistle.

Taylor said: "Straight away, there was a barrage of abuse from the fans, none of them having any understanding that there were no markings to help me out.

"And this really got the players riled up to a point where they began taking advantage and appealing for decisions that weren't out, even when it was close to the line.

"From this, then comes all the abuse with freekicks and everything like that. Because they're already heated, they've already got something to cling on to.

"One player got in my face and screamed 'F**k you, Taylor'. I also blew up for offside and someone got in my face and said "You weren't f**kng looking'.

Taylor said the nasty comments during the game became more aggressive, with players making digs at his capabilities as a referee.

He went on: "One player decided to make a passing comment.

"He said, 'I know there are not many refs in this league, but he has to be the sh**test one that I've had."

"Another player said he had given me a load of sh*t because 'that's the only way that I'm going to be able to learn how to be a referee.' "I don't understand what he means by that."

Taylor said he was still pushing ahead with his dream of becoming a professional referee but said further instances of abuse might make him reconsider.

He said: "I love working in a professional environment and making decisions and trying to give both teams justice in football, as I hated injustice when I was playing.

"I want to keep refereeing and I want to keep going, however, it's made the environment more scary than it's ever been "I'm going to do it, I'm not going to stop.

"However, it has really put me off and if something was to happen again, that's when I don't know if I can carry on going with refereeing."

An FA spokesperson said: "We have over 37,000 referees in England, and they are the lifeblood of our game.

"We understand the challenges that some of them face, and we have been very clear that all forms of abuse, whether on or off the pitch, are completely unacceptable.

"While it is only a small minority of people who behave badly to referees, this is still too many, and we will continue to do everything we can to stamp out this behaviour from our game.

"This season, we have introduced a new behaviour improvement programme which will see penalty points accumulations introduced in the grassroots game, identifying the worst offending clubs for incidents of behavioural offences such as dissent and violent conduct, along with poor overall matchday respect scores.

"This builds on the steps taken last season to allow for deductions of league points from clubs that are repeated offenders of serious misconduct.

"Through stronger sanctions, leading innovations and our three-year refereeing strategy, we are determined to tackle this issue and build a safer and more inclusive environment for our match officials to have happy and fulfilling long term experiences as referees."