Proof that the FA's Respect! Campaign is not working

First, a big hat tip to HK Referee for his post pointing us to an article from The Telegraph,
Exclusive: Referees live in fear as grass-roots game spirals out of control.

For those who remember, the FA started their Respect campaign in 2011 with this video.
It is shockingly accurate to what actually happens across the fields today.

You would think with such a dramatic effort and the backing of one of the legendary football associations in history it would be better after 5 years. Right?

Maybe not, from the article, a survey of over 2000 referees was performed, and below are the results.

First a note on the sample ... these are their grassroots referees or basically the future pool they need to draw from. About 1/3 think the National system is not doing enough for them, and about 1/4 think the local system is not doing enough for them by way of support.

That's pretty scary right there. I also have to say looking to measure this is a brave strep in the right direction as if the refereeing organization I am a part of were to do this, we may get similar results.

From there it gets really depressing though as about 1/4 take verbal abuse every match and about 1/5 have been physically abused. That is truly sad.

I would strongly encourage reading the full article as it paints a very bleak picture that I believe is mirrored in other parts of the world.

While there seems to be evidence the campaign is not working ... my operative question is why?

We'll explore that later this week, along with the US version of "Respect!" that I also think has failed horribly.

Sepp, you have failed ...

Sepp Blatter: Fifa president calls for zero tolerance towards racism

Fifa president Sepp Blatter says football's world governing body will "have failed" if it does not adopt a zero tolerance approach to racism.

Uefa opened a disciplinary case against CSKA Moscow this week after Manchester City's Yaya Toure complained of being racially abused by their fans.

Blatter said: "If we are not able to go zero tolerance, we have failed." ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the BBC.

Kicking Back Comments: Sepp, you have failed. You farmed out this serious issue to a committee lead by Jeffrey Webb who is asking why there are not more managers of color in the UK, when another serious racial incident occurred (and Platini started to blame the referee!) ... Sorry folks I called this one in 10 Matches is not enough.

Sepp you have failed, in failing to follow through on your words of points reductions, suspensions, or relegations for racists.

Sepp you have failed, in actually thinking that a handshake is a cure for racism.

Sepp you have failed, in bolstering a simple (5) match ban for racism. Are you serious? We are still at (5) matches?

Sepp you have failed, to not take a proverbial hammer to these people, and expel them, forever. You want to make an impression, suspend the next player guilty of this behavior for all eternity with no opportunity for a reprieve. You will get everyones attention, and get wide support for it.

Sepp, you have failed.