A minor soccer association in Quebec has announced it is planning to equip its referees with body cameras.
The association said the body cameras are necessary because of the growing level of verbal abuse aimed at referees, many of whom are teenagers.
It also says some referees are not coming back next year because of the treatment.
The move has some in B.C. wondering if referees should wear them here.
Marty Jones, president of the Cloverdale Minor Hockey Association, told Global News he doesn’t think it’s a bad idea.
“I’m a little bit surprised that it’s taken this long to have some sort of accountability system where, when something happens at an arena, a referee can have some sort of a defence mechanism or something that can be called into question for the abuse that they’re suffering at the hands of adults, whether it’s on the bench or in the stands,” he said.
Jones has a son who is just about to start refereeing games, and said as a parent, he is concerned about the possible abuse his son could face.
“These are just young men and women who are trying to — whether it’s either a part-time job or some of them may have career aspirations of being a professional official — to hear what they’re subjected to is absolutely heartbreaking,” he said.
Starting next spring in Quebec, one referee during each association game in the Eastern Township region will wear a body camera, according to Martin Tremblay, president of the Association du Soccer Mineur de Windsor, in Windsor, Que.
He said he first started thinking about recording games in 2022 after the parents of an injured player asked if there was video of what had happened to their child on the field.
In Ontario, some soccer referees began wearing cameras in August for a pilot project, said Johnny Misley, CEO of Ontario Soccer. Results of the pilot won’t be published until next winter, after the data gathered is analyzed by researchers from Brock University, but Misley said referees have told his organization that the cameras are helping.
Ali Abbas has been a soccer referee in B.C. since 2014 and told Global News he thinks body cameras are a good idea.
“I mean a lot of people swear and say things,” he said. “I don’t want my kid to learn these things.”
Abbas said he has friends who are referees who have also suffered abuse from players and parents.
“By the parents? Absolutely, all the time,” he said.
“Swearing things — ‘You’re bad, ‘You’re this, you’re that’ — a lot of a lot of bad words. But we just ignore (it). You have to continue doing the game and the match, and you want the kids to have fun and you watch the game and enjoy it as well.”