Referees are always in the spot light even with VAR (Video Assistant Refereeing) and so many people now expect perfect decision making. So where does that leave amateur sport? Particularly when you think about avoiding significant incidents which impact whether people stay involved. At least 1 DADS V DADS game this week I am sure will have reported zero free kicks, so it got us thinking about aggression in sport, what creates it and the referees role?
When DADS V DADS started, a concern had been the potential need for referees. I am sure we’ve all had a go at refereeing right and the nightmare job it is? and we’ve probably all too been part of a team of older players competing against early 20 somethings, and how that can bring out the worst in people, even using aggression as a way to counter fitter, better, faster players.
Dads v Dads objective has always been to create an enjoyable atmosphere in which to play sport, one of encouragement and involvement , no moaning and groaning, no aggressive challenges, lot’s of apologies even and with a bit of competition added in for good measure with the Fantasy League (because we can’t help it). If it ticks those boxes people stay involved longer term. And it creates a sustainable way for us all to stay involved in sport we enjoy.
So does the absence of a referee actually help? put a man in a cage in between 2 opposing forces and it creates a fulcrum for animosity and aggression. At DADS v DADS those who lead it definitely think there is something to that, after a year now of Dads v Dads games we’ve seen how players referee themselves and it helps keeps games at the right level.
In reality it is the DADS v DADS players that make it work so well and we have to say THANK YOU for that! You come with a great collective attitude! People don’t leave one of our games thinking that they didn’t enjoy it because of too much aggression or lack of tolerance. And long may that continue so we can KEEP PLAYING and KEEP OTHERS PLAYING TOO👍⚽
