Referees ‘being put in spotlight’ over on-pitch incidents

There are greater pressures on referees as a result of liability issues that can arise in matches such as serious injury or an on-pitch incident, a senior sports law solicitor has warned.

Edward Evans was speaking at a Law Society conference and said “referees are being put in the spotlight”, particularly because of incidents in which players could be “acting outside the rules of the game”.

In one case last year, a club player successfully appealed a two-year sentence handed down for assault causing harm against an opponent after showing how the sentencing judge had operated on the injured party’s version of events rather than the referee’s report.