Referee Abuse Notification Form

Remember - this is the ONLY abuse that must be reported:

Physical Abuse:

• Grabs, pushes, shoves, punches, kicks, spits or otherwise makes other than accidental contact with a referee.

Verbal Abuse:

• Swears directly at a referee, calls a referee derogatory names, threatens a referee with violence, threatens a referee’s family in any manner, questions or challenges a referee’s integrity
• Use of verbal slurs, or mocking gestures or sounds in relation to a referee’s gender, race, religion, sexuality, age or any other discriminatory basis
• repeated instances during a match of verbal harassment and verbal challenge by players, coaches or spectators following any appropriate warnings to the extent that the cumulative effect on the match or the referee becomes overbearing or intimidating or which otherwise threatens the safety of players or the Referee

Physical Intimidation:

• Intimidates a referee by imposing their body in the referee’s personal space, marching a referee backwards or using stand-over tactics with the effect that the referee considers that he or she has fears for their safety.

Support available:

1737: This national helpline is free to text and call anytime. Staffed by trained counsellors, 1737 supports people who are going through a tough time (and also provides advice to those wanting help someone else) to identify what kind of help they may need and connects them to the appropriate service.