An East Cork soccer club is tackling the abuse of referees head on and will be banning anybody who abuses referees and sidelines officials during games.
Youghal United say they were forced to take strong measures after a number of incidents coupled with the growing number of games being cancelled due to a shortage of referees.
RedFM News highlighted the situation at the start of last month when the Cork branch of the Irish Soccer Referees Society called for a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of officials by players and people on the sidelines.
Youghal United are observing Referee Awareness Month during which referees and officals will lead both teams onto the pitch and supporters will be asked to applaud them at the end of the game.
Speaking to RedFM News, Mossie Clohessy from Youghal United says the zero-tolerance approach was necessary to prevent any more games being cancelled.
"It was a pattern, every year we were losing referees. Maybe we weren't;t as losing as much, but we were losing them as time went on.
"This year then was the big year, especially after Covid. I think a lot of referees after Covid said 'I don't want to do this any more, there's more to life than going to referee a game and getting abuse'.
"Last year I could see the club was being affected by a lack of referees and fixtures were being called off."
