22 percent of judges have been threatened and four out of ten female judges have felt discriminated against because of their gender. This is shown by a survey carried out by the Swedish Football Association. Jonas Eriksson started refereeing when he was 13 years old and says that it was a kinder climate then. He believes that the hatred towards judges is due, among other things, to a blame-it-yourself culture and that there is no forgiveness for mistakes. – Society has become tougher. We are more direct in our criticism, we like to blame ourselves. “It’s never my fault”. And somewhere there, I think everyone has to help, he says. “Must have acceptance” A big problem in football is that young referees quit because of how they are treated by players and parents. – Imagine yourself being 13-14 years old and taking responsibility and decisions, it’s not easy. There are no professionals who judge at that level. They are beginners, we have to have acceptance because things can go wrong sometimes, he says and continues: – You place such demands on the referees, they absolutely must not make mistakes. I have never seen a game with 11-12 year olds where they do everything right. We must understand that it is people who judge. You should be aware of that. At all levels, the role of judge involves quick and difficult decisions, and Jonas Eriksson believes that the same situation can often be judged in different ways. We as spectators also have a bias and that is something we need to be aware of. – When you have a favorite team, you only see the rules with one eye. Everything is interpreted and filtered. And that’s perfectly fine, the brain is programmed that way. But you have to be aware of that when you criticize judges.
t4-general