Baffins boss Wilkinson: I’d love to see more ex-players becoming referees – they’d understand the passion that’s involved

The Baffins Milton Rovers boss has made the suggestion after being left angered by the performance of the officials in his side's 3-0 Wessex League Premier Division defeat at Christchurch last week.

Wilkinson himself was shown a red card while James Cowan was dismissed for foul and abusive language with Josh Warren sin-binned for the same offence.

The Rovers boss branded the referee's performance as 'the worst he'd seen in 20 years of football'.

But he believes the game could benefit from more players becoming officials once they have hung up their boots.

Wilkinson believes those who have played the sport for a longer period might have a better understanding when it comes to decision-making.

'The problem is I feel like there are not enough ex-players as referees,' he said.

‘They understand the game, they understand the passion involved and they understand what’s at stake.

‘Now they just want to seem to be centre of attention.

‘The second half (at Christchurch) was the worst refereeing performance I’ve ever seen in my life in 20 years of playing football.

'We didn’t start the half particularly well.

‘James Cowan got a red, I got sent off and we had one in the sin bin and six yellow cards.

‘I had players in the changing room after the game, like four or five of them, saying ‘what’s the point in playing?

‘They’re not here for the money, they’re on little to no money as it is, they’re giving up their time and putting in the effort and you’ve got a man in the middle making these decisions.'

Baffins now have plenty of time to reflect on the defeat with a month-long break enforced on non-elite football during lockdown.

It continued an inconsistent start to life as boss for Wilkinson since arriving at the PMC Stadium in the summer.

And he felt the difference in performance between each half at Christchurch was a perfect portrayal of their 2020/21 campaign so far.

‘We’ve been very inconsistent all season,' said Wilkinson.

‘That performance epitomises my Baffins start - we’re good one half, we’re bad in the other.

'We’ve probably been good in half of the 11 games we’ve played and not in the others.'