The football season is now in full swing with the First Division and the II/III Division Knock Out competitions quickly following in the footsteps of the Premier League which was the first to kick off.

Referees have been prepared both physically and mentally for the season with two seminars being held, one for the senior referees and another for the junior referees.

UEFA lecturer Keith Hackett chaired the senior meeting while fully qualified lecturers of the Malta Football Association put the junior referees through their paces. These meetings are essential and they are not a one off.

Throughout the season referees and their assistants meet to view and discuss specific incidents and sometimes a whole debate ensues before one of the lecturers gives a ruling and every official has to follow it.

UEFA also finds that an annual seminar for its top officials is essential to keep them on their toes. The scope is to give guidelines and instructions where it is clear that some of the officials are not in complete control. One aspect which was discussed in Switzerland last week was the harassment of referees. This happened a lot in the World Cup and little or nothing was done about it. One might ask how can a referee be harassed?

A player puts pressure on a referee when he demands that an opponent is cautioned by the referee. This happens not be word of mouth but by mimicking the use of a card to the referee to entice him to use it. This is not on .

UEFA have now given specific instructions to its officials that they must caution a player who does this. The right to decide whether to caution or send off a player is the referee's and no player can try and influence the referee in his decision.

Another form of harassment is when a player runs towards a referee after disagreeing with his decision. This is something else which UEFA wants stopped as when after a decision is given against a player that player shows dissent by word of action, in other words by showing disagreement by gesturing.

Free from harassment and as calmly as possible a referee will control a match well without the added pressure of harassment from the players.