A united front to enforce respect for officials

Combat sport events generally take place in a pleasant atmosphere, but the VA hears too often that referees, judges or other people who make events possible are being verbally abused and intimidated. This is unacceptable. Together with the federations and promoters, the VA wants to form a united front to enforce respect for these pillars of our sport.

Without referees and judges we are nowhere. They therefore deserve to be treated with a great deal of respect. Moreover, as a sport we bear a major responsibility towards the young people present, who are sometimes set a completely wrong example.

Protecting officials requires decisive action against misconduct from everyone involved. The most important role here lies with the federations.

When misconduct is observed, it is up to the responsible federation to take action. Is a coach verbally abusing the referee? Is a competitive fighter intimidating the judges? Then it is up to the federation to warn that person or to impose a sanction (afterwards). They can use the General rules of conduct and sanction recommendations that we have drawn up for this purpose. If a federation applies disciplinary law, the VA can arrange for a measure to be adopted uniformly by the other covenant partners.

Are members of the public misbehaving towards officials? Then it is up to the federation sanctioning the event to involve the promoter (the organiser of the event) immediately. The promoter must address the audience, have people removed in cases of serious misconduct, and warn that the event will be halted if the misconduct is repeated.

Does the promoter fail to provide a safe and pleasant working environment for the officials? Then the federation can withdraw the promoter's licence. This must be reported through the VA to the other covenant partners, so that they will not issue a promoter's licence to this party either.

The federations have been addressed by letter, calling on them to join us in doing more to enforce respect for officials. The federations have also received a letter of similar purport to distribute among the promoters they work with. In it, we explicitly draw attention to their role in safeguarding the atmosphere around the ring and the safety of the officials.

Because of these problems, the VA recently gave its auditors the explicit instruction to pay close attention to how officials are treated, and to the extent to which the promoter takes responsibility for this.

Our sport depends entirely on the people who, as referee or judge, want to keep bouts running properly. Fortunately things very often go well and events usually take place in a pleasant atmosphere. But the fact that officials are nevertheless regularly approached in a disrespectful manner is utterly unacceptable. It is clearly high time that action was taken against this. The VA wants to form a united front with the covenant partners and promoters to enforce the respect that is due.