On September 3, lawyer Nicolas Joubert participated in an interview in French with CBC Radio-Canada’s program, Le 6 à 9, to discuss Sport Manitoba’s new campaign “No Ref, No Game.”
The campaign brings awareness to the declining participation of sport officials due to increasing acts of mistreatment and abuse of referees. In the interview, Nicolas draws on his fifteen-year experience refereeing soccer from youth to the professional game. Nicolas notes that the mistreatment and abuse of referees has a negative impact on the recruitment and retention of referees, particularly young referees. Nicolas also notes that awareness campaigns such as this one will hopefully help change people’s attitudes towards sport officials and is a great step towards ensuring an environment of safety and respect for all involved in sport, including referees.
You can listen to the full interview segment « Non à la violence envers les arbitres » here.
About Sport Manitoba and “No Ref, No Game”:
Sport Manitoba launched the “No Ref, No Game” media campaign to bring attention to the declining participation of sport officials due to increasing incidents of maltreatment. “No Ref, No Game” is a reminder that without referees, officials and umpires, there would be no games.
About Nicolas:
Nicolas practises in the areas of corporate and commercial law as well as intellectual property law, including copyrights and trademarks. In his spare time he is a Provincial soccer referee and a member of Canada Soccer’s NextGen Referee Program. Learn more about his practice here.