RateTheRef

Red card and hopefully a subsequent touch line ban is long overdue for Silva, who seems to have had runnings with officials for several weeks now. Personally I think his actions are the worst of the three and the catalyst for what followed. Clearly Mitrovic’s actions are also indefensible, but I’m almost certain he doesn’t react like that if his manager didn’t do so beforehand.

And in terms of this trickling down to grassroots, for me it’s the manager’s actions that mirror the current situation the most.  Kids won’t copy Mitrovic, they’ll follow the lead of their coach or parents, who will follow the lead of the likes of Silva.

From a referees point of view, I am completely grateful to CK for dealing with it so well. It gives us grassroots level referees a role-model for dealing with scenarios like this.