蜜芽传媒

Hundreds of grassroots football referees have told 蜜芽传媒 Radio 5 Live that they fear for their safety when refereeing.

927 referees responded to a questionnaire that was distributed to 7000 members of The Referees鈥� Association in England.

Some of the abuse experienced by referees, including those under the age of 18, has been verbal abuse, threats of violence and comments on female referees鈥� chests.

Megan, a referee from Worcestershire, has said her experiences on the pitch have 鈥渞eally had an impact鈥� on her mental health.

An FA spokesperson has said: "We have over 28,000 referees in England, and they are the lifeblood of our game. We understand the challenges that some of them face, and we have been very clear that all forms of abuse, whether on or off the pitch, are completely unacceptable.

鈥淲hile it is only a small minority of people who behave badly to referees, this is still too many, and we will continue to do everything we can to stamp out this behaviour from our game.

鈥淭hrough stronger sanctions, leading innovations and a new three-year refereeing strategy coming soon, we are determined to tackle this issue and build a safer and more inclusive environment for our match officials to have happy and fulfilling long term experiences as referees.鈥�

Help and support can be found at http://bbc.co.uk/actionline

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