REFEREES official John Challis believes the rising level of indiscpline in grass-roots football locally is easily explained.

Replying to last Friday's Daily Echo story that the Hampshire FA have recorded a slight increase in indiscipline in 2002/03, Challis, the secretary of the Southampton & District Referees Society, said: "I'm not really surprised.

"There's hardly any discipline anymore - not in the homes, not in the schools. That's one of the problems.

"When I was young if you misbehaved at school you got a detention, if you misbehaved again you got a thrashing! And you'd have to be very silly to misbehave after that.

"Now the schools probably have to write to the parents to tell them they're keeping their kids behind."

Challis backed county FA chief executive Lawrence Jones' plan - as revealed in Saturday's Echo - to get all affiliated clubs to send at least one member on a referees training course.

"Some clubs already do, but the vast majority don't," he said.

"Some of the people in the Premiership don't know all the rules, so you can't expect people at grass-roots level to know them.

"One of the silliest things I see is a player who has been sent off standing on the touchline as if he's fireproof - gesturing and shouting towards the referee.

"By doing that he's only creating more problems for himself, but the players don't seem to realise that.

"Out of all the clubs in Hampshire there's probably a few who go an entire season without a booking, and probably a few which have quite a lot. It's the ill-disciplined clubs that need to send people on a referees course."

Challis agreed that a rising amount of discipline offences could only mirror the increasing amount of football played these days.

In recent years the small-sided game has grown in stature, as has the girls and women's games.

"That has affected the refereeing numbers as well. Some of my more mercenary colleagues would prefer to stand indoors earning a nice bit of money rather than running round an open field where you could get wet, cold or injured."

He continued: "I have noticed a gradual increase in abuse towards referees in the past decade.

"When I was playing, and I only stopped about 12 years ago, there was never the backchat to refs that you see now.

"And I don't understand the people who throw the ball away and then gob off to the ref and pick up a needless caution.

"But the amount of indiscipline you get only reflects what goes on in society. When you see murderers getting their wrists slapped by judges, what hopes do we referees in Hampshire have?"

Challis said good standards should start in the Tyro League, but added: "One of the problems you get there is the abuse towards the ref dealt out by parents - normally male parents.

"The big danger is that if you get a young lad or a young girl refereeing in the Tyro at the end of the season they may jack it all in because of the abuse.

"If they do that they're probably lost to football forever - I can't believe they'd want to come back."