Delfina Dimoski has developed thick skin.
She has been a referee in Canberra’s top local football leagues for more than 12 years and during that time has been the victim of death threats, rape threats, verbal abuse and harassment.
Although Canberra’s soccer competition was expanding, Ms Dimoski said the abuse referees faced was turning them away from the game en masse, leading to a shortage of referees for matches.
“Weekends for referees are busy: many officials referee between three and five matches in two days,” explains Ms. Dimoski.
“We don’t ask our players to play as many matches in this window, but that’s exactly what we ask the referees to do.“
The solution may seem simple: hire more referees.
But Capital Football, the body which oversees the territory’s competitions, attempted this in 2019.
He ran a free course for women to make them fully qualified referees, free of charge.
But Ms Dimoski said hiring and retaining referees are two different things, given the vile abuse officials are exposed to.
“For every referee who is mistreated or leaves our game, it takes three years to train someone to get to the appropriate level,” Ms Dimoski said.
Canberra football referee Delfina Dimoski says she was subjected to death threats, rape, verbal abuse and harassment on the field. (ABC News: Greg Nelson)
Referees give up their weekends “to be mistreated and threatened”
Hamish Rae is also a registered referee with the ACT, but walked away from the game due to the abuse he suffered.
“It’s not nice to just give up your weekend to be abused and threatened and have very little or no support from the governing body,”
» said Mr. Rae.
“That doesn’t even take into account the time we spend during the week training and doing our own gym sessions – things people don’t see.”
Mr Rae said officiating in junior leagues could be a rewarding experience, but even referees as young as 14 are abused by people on the sidelines.
“Where do kids get their examples from? Their coaches, the spectators – and the spectators are their parents,” he said.
“If children start seeing their parents do something, they will think it’s okay to do the same thing.”
Local football referee Hamish Rae said he had taken a break from the match. (ABC News: Greg Nelson)
Mr Rae said he had reported incidents of abuse to Capital Football but officials had not taken the reports seriously.
“It’s very difficult when you don’t have support and you see players being kicked out or you’re filing incident reports about them coming back and playing a week or two later,” Mr Rae said.
“This is after they abused and threatened you – and I have friends in the same situation.“
“One of the most difficult years referees have ever had”
In 2018, Capital Football launched a referee review, which aimed to better support referees, address the culture within the Canberra football community and address safety concerns.
Ms. Dimoski was one of the adjudicators who pushed for a review, but said that, three years later, conditions had barely improved.
“There was a glimmer of light and now I think we are going backwards,”
» said Ms. Dimoski.
“This is one of the most difficult years we’ve ever had – we have no availability, we don’t have people putting their hands up for matches, and yet the demand in competitions is straining our limited resources.
“Then the referees we have are subject to very serious abuse in public forums and during matches, in a very visible way.”
Canberra football referees say the number of officials is falling. (Getty Images / Bongarts: Martin Rose)
Ms Dimoski and Mr Rae agreed that abuse of referees was a wider problem in the sport and said everyone involved was responsible for stopping it.
“This is not just a Capital Football problem,” Ms. Dimoski said.
“The clubs have to buy in, the players have to buy in and the spectators have to buy in.”
The ABC asked Capital Football detailed questions about the number of referees, the officials’ complaints process and what Capital Football does to attract and retain referees.
No response was received.
