Earlier this month, we were appalled to hear how young Emily Dyke, aged 14, had considered giving up her hobby as a referee at children’s football matches when she was verbally abused by parents. Yeah, you read that right. Parents called Emily a “f#$@ing disgrace” and told her “you don’t know what you’re f#$@ing doing” when she was refereeing Under-9 and Under-8 games. Even worse, some parents even justified their behaviour by saying, “She is a ref, she should expect abuse.”

After reading about this, we at GFI, had to take a collective deep breath before getting on with the rest of the day. Here is a teenager using her leisure time learning how to officiate football matches and this is what parents come up with? If you’re a parent, how would you feel if your child was at the receiving end of such nasty comments?

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