Irish FA Head of Refereeing Mike Riley feels important strides are being made in stamping out abuse towards officials in Northern Ireland and has encouraged more people to try “the best job in football” as the association continues their recruitment drive.

In a recent survey conducted by The Conversation of 1,300 referees across Europe, Oceania and North America, it was suggested that abuse is now endemic at all levels of football with another study stating more than 93% of referees had suffered verbal abuse and half of officials contacted had considered quitting the game at one point.

When former Premier League referee Riley joined the IFA last year, the ‘Catch Yourself On’ campaign was launched with the aim “to boost referee retention and recruitment of match officials at all levels of the game” across Northern Ireland by tackling unacceptable behaviour.

While there’s still further progress to be made, Riley feels the initiative has helped cut out abuse throughout the Irish League pyramid and wants to continue the work at all levels.

placeholder image — Mike Riley, the Irish FA’s Head of Refereeing, launching their 'Catch Yourself On' initiative last year

"You could make a case that any one incident of abuse is a problem because we don't want any in the game and we don't want any individual to go through it,” he said. “The evidence would suggest that there has been slightly fewer incidents year on year but we still have incidents so we have to do something to change behaviours all the way through the system.

"We need to make the Match Official Liaison Officer role that we spoke about last year come alive and that's a project for the second half of this season. 'Catch Yourself On' wasn't just a flash in the pan - we have to do it for the next three, four, five years so that ultimately football benefits.

"We should give credit to players and managers in the Irish League for the way they've changed behaviour over the last 18 months. 'Catch Yourself On' has been successful in changing that perception of refereeing and the way games are conducted.

"If that was the biggest barrier, we've made a lot of progress in removing that. There's still some way to go...we always said it would be a long-term project and we need to make sure we bring some of those benefits down into junior football, which we will be working on over the next year or so.

"It takes time to change people's behaviour and understanding so the more we keep forcing positive messages and delivering positivity we will change that and that will hopefully encourage more people into refereeing."

Riley refereed some of the biggest games in English football during his career, taking charge of the 2002 FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea while he also was in the middle for matches at Euro 2004.

Having got to experience the highs of making calls on the most significant stages, Riley is now encouraging others to try it out for themselves with the IFA currently holding beginner courses in four locations across Northern Ireland.

"Give it a try and come be part of it,” he added. “If you've drive and ambition you have the chance to go on and referee the best players in Northern Ireland and represent Northern Ireland on the international stage.

"We have Ben (McMaster) and Jamie (Robinson) out doing UEFA matches this week and looking ahead for them they've realistic chances of going on to the Conference League, Europa League and Champions League. Come be part of it and you'll enjoy it.”