Law 5 of the Laws of the Game is all about the Referee and their equipment. Stated within this law there is a line which says 'Referees and other ‘on-field’ match officials are prohibited from wearing jewellery or any other electronic equipment, including cameras.' It is the section on electronic equipment, including cameras that I have an issue with and believe that it is not something that is appropriate for grassroots game in the 21st century.

The purpose of the Laws of the Game is to ensure that the match day is run in a way that that is constant from locals recreational leagues around the world to the FIFA World Finals and as such I can't understand why video evidence collection isn't allowed in grassroots football particularly given that the abusive and threatening of match officials in some countries around the world if the Professional game can use television footage in retrospective punishment cases for misconduct unseen by match officials which are purely breaches of sporting law not criminal activities against someone giving up their time to officiate a football match which would not be able to take place without them. 

I believe that permitting matchday officials to wear a camera with a microphone would help to prevent the abusive behaviour towards them as it would not only act as deterant for this behaviour but also provide both footballing and criminal authorities a strong and condemning evidence to remove the bad eggs that tarnish the reputation of the biggest sport in the world. 

I have included a link to an interview between Talk Sport radio and the Chairman of the Referee's Association in England Mr. Paul Field in which they discussed the growing problem and the effect of it on referees which I believe is quite enlightening. I have not included any footage of this kind of behaviour as I don't consider showing the suffering of anyone to be in good taste but I am sure that they are easily found on the Internet.

Just because I have picked up a whistle to referee a football match that doesn't give anyone the right to be abusive or threatening towards me I would consider it my human right to protect myself from this behaviour while doing an activity I love and being able to wear a body cam with a microphone would help protect from this behaviour. 

Thank you for your time reading this, listening to the video and I hope you will agree with me on this matter and sign this petition.