A GAY referee said he was forced to give up officiating after being subjected to homophobic abuse during a match.
Joe Richardson, 29, claimed a lack of support from football's governing bodies forced him to quit, as his abuser was convicted yesterday.
Builder Dale Ritchie, 25, admitted subjecting the amateur referee to anti-gay abuse while he was in charge of a match in April last year.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that Ritchie called the referee homophobic names before directing a stream of abuse at him at the end of the match.
The incident happened during a match between Perth United and Bridge of Earn amateurs at Victory Park in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire.
Ritchie, of Newhouse Road, Perth, admitted breaching the peace by shouting homophobic remarks to Mr Richardson. He admitted the offence was aggravated by prejudice relating to sexual orientation.
His solicitor, Billy Somerville, played down the offence and said it was created under new legislation in 2009.
He added: "I can only imagine that if everyone at a football match who made derogatory remarks to the referee was prosecuted, then the prosecutor would be snowed under."
But Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said he accepted that remarks were often made, but pointed out the majority of them were not of a prejudicial nature covered by the new law. He said that was backed up by the public outcry created by the racial abuse of schoolboy player Jordan Tapping, who left the field in tears after a weekend match at Peterhead, when he was subjected to racist abuse.
The sheriff noted that Ritchie, who is unemployed, had a previous conviction for a racially aggravated breach of the peace and deferred sentence for reports until April.
Openly gay Mr Richardson, from Dundee, said he gave up football after "six months of hell and lack of support" from the local referees' association. Mr Richardson said he also had his phone stolen while he was in charge at a Scottish Women's Football League match on September 1 at Glenesk Park in Dundee, between Tayside Ladies and Jeanfield Swifts LFC.
"The matter was reported to the police and to date no one has been found for the theft and all attempts to discuss the matter with the club, SFA, SWFL and the local referee association have proved fruitless. All parties are refusing to accept liability so I am left out of pocket," he said.
Mr Richardson reported the incidents to the head of refereeing John Fleming and SFA chief executive Stewart Regan, but was told it was a matter for the local referees' association.
He said he was frustrated by the lack of action and berated the authorities on Facebook. As a result of his comments, he was expelled. The Angus and Perthshire Referees Association made no comment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article