We all agree that officials should be respected, but how can you respect that?

Referees and assistant referees (linesmen to you and me) have a very difficult job. I am fully behind the respect campaign and believe that the officials should be respected and treated with far more courtesy than they currently are by players, managers and fans.

Angry

I manage a local league team and I have to admit than I can get very angry with officials when decisions go against us. Add the pressure of fifty thousand fans, millions of pounds and your livelihood and of course I understand why players and managers occasionally fail to behave in the way that we all wish they would.

Recently we have had Joe Kinnear complaining that his Newcastle teams get nothing from referees, and this was after his side had been gifted an equaliser in the crucial match against local rivals Sunderland with a very poor and soft penalty award in their favour.

Obvious

On Wednesday night we had Rafa Benitez complaining about the red card shown to Lucas in their FA Cup defeat at Everton. This despite the fact that Lucas committed an obvious yellow card offence when he had already been booked.

Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger also have a long and well documented history of complaining about referees but have myopic vision that only allows them to see mistakes made against them and not those in their favour.

It is human nature and we would all be guilty of this behaviour in their position.

On Sunday at Anfield Frank Lampard was given a ridiculous red card that has since rightly been overturned. The reaction of some of the Chelsea players to that decision was both understandable and disgraceful. John Terry was his usual angry self and was maybe lucky to escape with a yellow card for the level of his protestations.

Two people who reacted in a far more controlled way were Frank Lampard himself and the Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Shocked

Lampard looked shocked and confused, but left the field without a scene. He said after his card had been rescinded,

“I presumed it would be rescinded anyway. I was confident. It was a mistake but referees need time to consult the other officials – there are four and they get different angles. They need to use common sense. It was obviously a mistake. We all make mistakes – footballers make mistakes. I don’t want to have a dig at referees because they do a very hard job and I respect them.”

Likewise, despite the decision maybe leading to Chelsea’s defeat and potentially the end of their title chase, Scolari simply asked that referee Mike Riley looked at the incident again.

He also said that he felt that his right back Bosingwa should have been sent off for his ‘kung fu’ type kick on Yossi Benayoun near the end of the game.

Scolari said, “What Bosingwa did was not correct, he made a mistake.”

Bosingwa, fearing a deserved ban from the FA once they saw the incident on TV, immediately apologised for what he had done,

“I apologise for what I did and it was never my intention to hurt him. I know it was wrong and I apologise. It’s always frustrating to lose big games and especially in this way. It was important to get points and not let Manchester United go. That didn’t happen, so we are upset, but now we have to think about the next game.”

Now it has emerged that Bosingwa will not receive any penalty for his actions as the FA are not allowed to review the incident.

Respect

The reason for this goes some way to explain why managers, fans and players do not always show the respect to the match officials that they and the FA feel are due to them and we would all like to have.

Apparently the assistant referee, the extravagantly named Mo Matadar, actually saw the incident and decided that no action, other than to award a free-kick against Benayoun, was necessary.

Have a look at the incident below and then tell me how it is possible to respect an official who feels that what Bosingwa did was OK.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ulOtAvju3c