The problem of match official abuse has prompted one provincial sports body to examine providing match officials with body cameras.
Ontario Soccer confirms it is examining the logistics around the possibility, with Chief Executive Officer Johnny Misley saying there is a "match official crisis" in the province due to declining memberships of officials, with a primary reason for that being the mistreatment of referees by players, coaches and spectators.
"This subject has been a concern for us for quite some time, but especially coming out of the pandemic which only heightened the issue," Misley says, saying Ontario Soccer's Board of Directors has "approved a 2-3 years plan to tackle this, and we're not talking about tackling this in a way that is something that we've done before, we're looking at more serious ways that can help us change the culture."
Misley confirms that body cams are on the table, and are one of many elements being considered, but he understands potential issues surrounding cost and logistics.
"We have had incidents this year involving physical violence of a criminal nature from adult-level players. We want to be proactive in a zero-tolerance way, instead of the education route that we've taken for years, and not had much success" added Misley.
Currently, Ontario Soccer has approximately 5,000 registered referees, down almost 50% compared to 2019.
A trial in England's grassroots soccer allowing referees to wear body cameras is getting underway next year following similar concerns around abuse of officials, including an incident in October that saw a referee in the city of Lancashire left with several injuries including a broken nose, broken collarbone and a concussion.