Match officials in England six times more likely to suffer abuse than French or Dutch counterparts, study finds

Match officials in England are six times more likely to suffer weekly verbal abuse than their counterparts in France and the Netherlands, according to new research.

Portsmouth University questioned almost 7,000 referees across the three countries and the majority felt they needed greater support.

The study, which is the largest of its kind, will be published by UEFA. It is the first time that comparisons have been drawn between European countries.

While the research showed that the type of incidents experienced were not overly different, when compared to previous findings in England, there was a stark contrast in frequency.

In England, 22 per cent of match officials said they experienced verbal abuse on a weekly basis. In France, the figure was 3.4 per cent and in the Netherlands it was as low as 0.4 per cent.

England also had the highest percentage of reported physical assaults on referees, at 19 per cent.

Dr Tom Webb from Portsmouth University told Sky Sports News: "We found a lack of reporting of the incidents because the support networks are perceived to be lacking and the disciplinary processes are viewed as flawed.

"There is an issue and we hope that there can be a focus now on solutions. I think we need to recognise that referees are an out-group. You have the players, spectators and the coaches. They want their team to win. The referee has a different goal and that lends itself to conflict.

"We found referees do feel disenfranchised and I think referees will question why their situation does not seem to be addressed in the new Respect campaign."

Two years ago the Ref Support helpline was set up, to offer support to match officials experiencing problems. Sky Sports News has learnt that the number of calls they received from people reporting physical assaults has doubled this year.

In response to Portsmouth University's research, the FA said: ''We have a number of interventions to tackle abuse in all its forms, including more funding to mentoring programmes, which support referees and clearer standardised procedures for County FAs to deal with incidents of this kind.

"Our recent relaunch of Respect, under the 'We Only Do Positive' banner, is focused on improving the behaviour of coaches and parents, whilst the introduction of temporary dismissals, or sin-bins, at Step 7 and below of the national league system resulted in a 38 per cent reduction in dissent from the leagues that were involved."