A Hawke's Bay football referee has not noticed a sharp rise in abuse on and off the football field.
Phil Holt, who has been refereeing for years, said in the past nine games this season he had only given three yellow cards and hadn't yet had to tell people from the sideline to remove themselves.
The yellow cards were not for abuse reasons and Mr Holt said he had not been subject to any abuse this season and only very rarely in previous seasons.
"There have been times when players puff their chest out and you wonder what's coming next but they manage to cool off so I haven't had to deal with a situation where I've been scared."
Mr Holt said it was harder to control what remarks came from the sideline, as they believed they were free to say what they wanted.