THE only football league in Oxfordshire to support last weekend’s referees’ strike have said they wanted to protect the future of their officials.

The action was called by teenage Manchester referee Ryan Hampson in protest at the abuse received by officials.

More than 2,000 referees in England opted to go on strike, but only one league in Oxfordshire – the Banbury District & Lord Jersey FA – supported the stand.

According to the league’s appointments officer, Stuart Haden, 23 of their 26 officials voted to join the strike and as a result, all of last Saturday’s programme was called off.

“We told our referees it was their personal decision, but most agreed to join the strike,” said Haden.

This was despite the league receiving an e-mail from the Oxfordshire FA advising them not to join the strike.

Haden said: “We are concerned by the lack of appropriate action by the authorities, over verbal and physical abuse of referees.

“We’ve had two officials spat at this season.”

The Oxfordshire Senior League’s appointments secretary Brian Kirk, who is a member the OFA council, said: “We felt that as it was not a full strike, it was not strong enough to make a difference.”

Meanwhile Hampson hopes its uptake will persuade the Football Association to make dramatic changes – including the adoption of body cameras – that improve referees’ safety.

“The take-up has been a lot better than we’d hoped but this doesn’t just stop now,” Hampson “This has touched a nerve with referees all over the UK and we will keep going until we get the changes they need, because they are getting abused on a regular basis and it’s still not being addressed.”