Players and coaches abusing referees in England will face longer suspensions as the Rugby Football Union tries to stop more match officials leaving the game. The RFU has acted after a survey showed 49% of referees had been "abused or disrespected" last season. It said that number was "unacceptable" and "undoubtedly impacting" on recruitment and retention of officials. World Cup final referee Wayne Barnes cited "vile" social media abuse as a catalyst for his retirement last year. His fellow Englishman Tom Foley announced he was taking a break from the game a month later, following a "torrent of abuse". The RFU said the new punishments were "aggravated sanctions". Fines, letters of apology and refereeing courses will still be available to disciplinary panels as they consider judgments. Last season, former Exeter wing Jack Nowell was fined £10,000 and ordered to attend a refereeing course for criticising a referee on X - formerly known as Twitter. Anyone found guilty at any level of the game in England will have a minimum addition of two, three or four weeks added to their punishment depending on the entry level of their offence - low-end, mid-range or top-end. Match official abuse (MOA) is split into five categories: dissent, verbal abuse, using threatening words or actions, making physical contact with a match official, and physical abuse of a match official. The new punishments came into effect on 1 January.

Football is quite rightly criticised for allowing players to abuse referees but the mechanisms are already there to stop it almost immediately. All it would take is for referees to immediately show red cards and for them to be supported with offending players being banned. But they won't do it presumably because they know the FA won't support them.

I hope rugby shows more backbone.