Ontario soccer referees to wear body cameras to combat increase in abuse
Ontario referees will be outfitted with body cameras this summer in an effort to stop aggressive abuse at soccer games across the province.
"Last year we had a 16-year-old female official assaulted in a parking lot by angry parents," Johnny Misley, president of Ontario Soccer, said on Monday.
"We had a player in an adult recreation game last year thrown out of the game only to go to their car and pull a machete out of their trunk and chase the referee around the field."
In response, the Ontario Soccer Association is launching a pilot project, handing some of their referees body cameras, designed to capture any abuse, physical or mental, officials are subject to while on the job.
"Human behaviour has changed and we've seen an increase in aggressive behviour toward referees in matches," said Misley.
The provincial association is still working out the logistics of where the pilot will take place but the president says it will likely launch on July 1 and run through the indoor season with a report out next year.
"We're taking a zero tolerance approach," he said.
The move follows a pilot project already underway in the U.K. to deal with the exact same issue. Ontario's local associations are celebrating the idea.
"Unfortunately we've seen quite an increase in both the incidents, the number and the severity since coming back from COVID," said Michelle Loveless, executive director of the Durham Region Soccer Association.
She said the result is a roughly 66 per cent decrease in the number of registered referees in her district.
"Back in 2019, which was our last full outdoor season prior to COVID, we had 623 match officials registered. This year we have 219," said Loveless.
Toronto is facing a similar stress on lack of officials signing up.
"We're talking referees that are only 14 or 15 years old," said Toronto Soccer Association president, Rob Gillies, "all it takes is an adult to get in their face screaming at them and then they just say enough."
He said it will also be a huge help in discipline because at the moment while coaches can pay a fine for yelling at a ref, spectators are the responsibility of the club.
"Some of these parents kind of get themselves off the hook. The club pays the fine," said Gillies, adding that now there will be video footage.
Toronto's Referee Association has education and support systems in place, as well as offering assistance in writing reports when an issue arises.
"A piece of technology like a camera that can be added to the game is an extra element," said Matthew Bagazzoli, vice president of the Toronto Referee Association, "it could be a deterrent, it could be a useful tool to properly enforce the laws."
He said it's important to keep the game fun for everyone because the shortage of referees is being felt across the city but the number of games each day is back up to pre-pandemic levels.
"A lot of referees get overworked and they're overburdened," said Bagazzoli, "technology could play an important role and there's definitely an advantage to having something like that in the game."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
Investigators have finally revealed the identity of an unknown victim nicknamed 'Midtown Jane Doe,' who was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City two decades ago.