It came a week after Western Sydney’s 4-3 defeat to Macarthur FC,following whichcoach Marko Rudan physically confronted referee Adam Kersey then attacked his integrity during an explosive post-match press conference,claiming his club had a “stigma” that was contributing towards perceived inconsistencies in decision-making.
As football’s lawmakerscontemplate the introduction of a ‘blue card’ to combat referee abuse around the world,FA is concerned about the potential for the increasingly sharp rhetoric in the A-Leagues to incite similar,or potentially even violent,behaviour by supporters.
“There’s been some instances that have raised some alarm bells,” Johnson said.
Sources who were unable to speak publicly due to the sensitive nature of the situation have told this masthead that at least one A-Leagues referee has been targeted by fans who have made abusive or demonstrative phone calls to their workplace recently.
Johnson refused to discuss any specific examples and,having just returned to Sydney after attending the Asian Cup final in Qatar,said he had not even seen the incident involving Lederer.
“I want to get on top of this early,” Johnson said. “The framework’s there,the rules are there. We have a code of ethics and a disciplinary code,and those rules are not just words on a piece of paper.