I've said it before that the current refs are no worse than the refs when i started watching in the early 80s. are they really any worse than kevin allatt, john mean or colin whitfied?

i think the majority on here agree, that irrelevant of how poor a ref is during a game(s) they dont warrant stuff throwing at them. I've hurled lots of abuse at them in the past along with opposition teams, but wouldnt even think about throwing bottles, phones, coins etc at them.

quite simple, find the idiot(s) and ban them from all games

Completely agree with you

Fred Lindop, Billy Thompson and you think that today’s ref’s are no worse

its a pity we cant do something along the lines of the barmy army.

i've been to a couple of test matches at OT, and was chatting to some of the lads there. Obviously they go to get tanked up and have a good day. The way one of them described the army was that they are basically self policing and the stewards allow them to sort themselves out inhouse (so to speak), and if anyone steps out of line they are dealt with by the barmy army and wont travel with them again. The stewards can concentrate on other matters

'Sgt Major' Eric Clay before them, also wasn't that great a ref either.

Today's refs are scrutinised with every word recorded, slow motion super zoom and any error can be shared to millions via social media. The refs back in the day could get away with a lot more.

I believe ex Swinton player Josh Barlow is taking up reffing which is good to see.

Like Grimmy said though , there are far too many young referees getting slated/abused/harassed by morons on a Sunday morning . They can only take so much before they leave the game . I’ve seen 14 year olds reffing their first games and getting abuse from the sidelines . That is tantamount to child abuse and is killing our sport . Grown adults swearing and abusing children is totally unacceptable. These are probably some the same idiots chucking stuff on to the pitch

Refs don’t always get it right ,and I have had first hand experience with Grimmy

, but I don’t shout and scream at him . The players will always make more mistakes than the officials . If somebody can prove me wrong I’ll donate my house to charity

Exactly, the abuse and foul mouth language is now part of everyday life and not just confined to officials and players in sport. You only have to look at the increasing number of programmes on television which contain an increasing amount of foul mouth language and 'over the top' use of the 'F' word to see why more and more people are being taught to be more abusive and foul mouthed.

It is therefore hardly surprising that youngster are growing up thinking that abuse of others and the use of foul mouth language in public is a accepted part of life and always has been.

It could also be said. at that the Referees of years past did not get help from elsewhere like you have stated and had to make prompt decisions of their own.

As far as am I am concerned, there is not a Referee today who can compete with John Holdsworth who was not only a good Referee making his own decisions, but also fair to all teams.

Ah, the good old days of great referees? They weren't scrutinised with trial by video as they are today. Remember the Hepworth "tackle" on Colin Tyrer at Wembley!!

Then there was Eric Clay. I was sat on the ringside at Central Park and Billy Boston had just trampled over his opposite winger and fullback for the 3rd time. There was about 10 minutes left and as Billy was walking back Clay said to him "Good try dad, make that's your last, they've had enough" Guess what, every time the ball came anywhere near Billy, Clay found a forward pass, knock on etc!!

Speaking of idiots at games, think the Leigh club may have a fine coming their way after today’s game.