Who'd be a ref? Fewer and fewer of us it turns out.

In our third State of the Game investigation we discovered that the number of referees in England at grassroots level is now the lowest on record. The FA admitted to us that the shortage of match officials had now become "critical" and that the primary reason for this haemorrhaging of volunteers was the abuse they have to endure throughout the country on any given weekend.

Cole: no sanction

Amateur referees are often paid as little as fifteen pounds to officiate a game; and in return many are the target of verbal abuse and sometimes a whole lot worse. No wonder 7,000 people give up the whistle each year.

We asked a range of counties across the country how many assaults on referees they have recorded this season. In London the number was as high as 39 already. And judging by the thousands of you who have once again got in touch with us, the treatment of referees is getting worse all the time.

We managed to secure some highly-disturbing images of a mass brawl that occurred in Rochdale earlier this season. One player roamed the pitch wielding a wooden plank after a player was sent off. The referee had to be escorted to safety by police. Frightening.

It seems that in many cases, players view referees as an opportunity at which to hurl the kind of aggression that simply wouldn't be acceptable in any other walk of life. Darren Flanagan from Bedfordshire, knows all too well how dangerous refereeing has now become.

He was punched in the face by a player he sent off in a cup semi-final. The injuries he sustained were so severe, he needed metal plates to be screwed permanently into his jaw.

It's difficult to appreciate how hard the job of refereeing has become, so we asked Darren if he'd allow us to fit him with a microphone that would enable us to hear what was said to him during a match he was officiating.

Sworn at

Darren's exceptional refereeing, and two relatively well-behaved teams meant he avoided any mass confrontations; but even in this game, as you can see in my report, he had to put up with being persistently sworn at, and his decisions openly questioned.

The footage is fascinating because it reveals the kind of dissent, and undermining of authority that has now become commonplace and normal in football, but which simply would not be tolerated in a sport such as rugby for example.

The FA launched their Respect campaign last month in a bid to improve levels of on-field conduct across the sport. The idea of only the captain of a team talking to the referee has been trialled in 20 leagues, and seems to have reduced levels of dissent. Indeed, Barnet FC decided to adopt such a policy this season, and are delighted that players are no longer being booked and suspended for arguing with officials.

But there are problems. Firstly, not everyone agrees with the 'captain-only' rule. Ex-Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburm, who joined us in our studio debate on the issue, believes it will prevent the kind of communication and contact that many believe is necessary, and contribute to a divide between those playing and officiating.

Secondly, the FA's bid to improve behaviour at the bottom of the sport is being totally undermined by those at the top. Just 24 hours after FA Chief Executive Brian Barwick pleaded for better standards of conduct from grassroots footballers, Ashley Cole treated Mike Riley with the kind of contempt you'd usually reserve for your worst enemy. Cole didn't just turn his back on the referee; he stuck two fingers up to the previous day's appeal.

And yet the Chelsea defender's timing, unlike that of his horror-lunge at Alan Hutton, was perfect, because it demonstrated with quite startling clarity, exactly why the professional game must now sharpen up its act.

The fact is that until those players on our television screens; those idolised and copied by the impressionable up and down the country, start to behave in a way befitting their status, the FA's Respect campaign is doomed to failure. Cole v Riley will go down as the watershed, the moment football finally woke up to the fact that something had to be done.

Fury

A few days after Cole's antics, came those of Javier Mascherano, who displayed similar degrees of rabid fury towards a match official, this time Steve Bennett. Except on this occasion, the referee sent the Liverpool man off, handing United victory.

And since then, there's been a noticeable improvement in behaviour by players towards referees. The secret lies in being tough. Punish the player and deprive his team of his services, and the deterrent is there. Do it every time, and standards will improve. Simple.

But in the case of Cole, there was no sanction. His only punishment was a yellow card. The FA say they're not at fault for Riley getting it wrong, and that FIFA rules don't allow for retrospective action to be taken against Cole. And they're right. But in some cases, they're still too soft.

Earlier this season Chelsea were fined £30,000 over the behaviour of their players in the match against Man United in September. Some of their squad earn that amount in just 48 hours, and it wouldn't have even merited a wince from Mr Abramovich. No surprise then that the club was then repeated the offence just weeks later against Derby.

Football needs to think long and hard about what it can do because it's at a disadvantage. In rugby there are much heavier punishments in the long-term, such as career-threatening eight-week bans, which provide the level of deterrent that guarantees better behaviour. In the short-term, there's the sin-bin rule which has no equivalent in football. So innovations are required.

A no-go area around the referee? Just the captain talking to the ref? Good ideas perhaps, but even if the professional game agrees, just like Barnet did, to honour some form of commitment to try these policies, the crunch will come when there's a transgression. What will happen the next time a referee's surrounded and abused after a debatable decision? Another £30,000 fine simply isn't good enough.

If the pro game can clean up its act then there's hope that the rest of will follow. The FA are trying to recruit more referees with a number of initiatives, but as long as blowing a whistle is tantamount to 90 minutes of abuse, the chance of success will be small.

A solution must be found because the very future of football is at stake. If there's no refs, then there's fewer games, and then there's less players, and eventually the England team start to lose matches and fail to qualify for competitions. Maybe it's already too late...

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