This article was first published today in our bespoke Sports newsletter The Fixture. You can sign up in seconds to receive it straight to your inbox every weekday here.  

You might have read a story doing the rounds this morning about plans afoot in England to penalise players who surround referees to contest their decisions. 

“We've got to fundamentally reset the behaviour of players and coaches from the top to the bottom of the game and give referees the best level of protection, Mark Bullingham, the English FA chief executive, is quoted as saying. “Referees are going to be far stricter on how they interpret things – for example, it won't be acceptable in any way for players to surround referees and that will lead to a yellow card straight away.”

The move has been made as part of a new charter governing player behaviour during matches but which will also extend to punishments for heinous acts such as 'tragedy chanting'. About time, too.

And what of Scotland? 

“It is true that the feedback we get is that people are put off getting involved in refereeing because of the difficult circumstances that they face in terms of players’ conduct towards referees. There is a danger that prospective referees may be put off because of what happens at the top level of the game. Now I have no evidence or indication in Scotland that any of our Grade One officials are anything other than quite capable of taking on board the sort of situations that they are faced with on a weekly basis, but we would definitely like to see more fair play and respect toward the refereeing profession in the game of football in Scotland.”

No doubt action will be forthcoming but this is not some new statement of intent from the office of Crawford Allan, the head of referee operations, but rather an extract from an interview in 2005 given by the late David Taylor, once of the Scottish Football Association, but then a member of UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body.

The Herald:

Allan would no doubt approve because the issue of respect in football has been something that has been of real concern for some time. The Fixture has spent a good part of the past month watching a lot of grassroots football and it is clear where the seeds are sown – and that a good deal more could be done to prevent it.

At the weekend, I took in the Glasgow City Cup at Glasgow Green. It was a dank, dreary day, one for heavy rain jackets and sturdy umbrellas. Nevertheless, there was a cheer in the air, a youthful exuberance that is found at any of those events where young footballers, not long out of nappies, get an early taste of competitive action.

Of course, where there are young footballers, there are also baying parents and there are unscrupulous coaches who are often more intent on winning matches than on developing footballers. Some might say winning and development go hand in glove and they are probably correct but the nuance is important: not at any cost. Of course, the vast majority of grassroots coaches are balanced, sentient individuals but not all.

This weekend, I heard one parent shout 'take him out' to their son. On another occasion, I watched a young boy kick through the shin of another young boy. It took three appeals from the coach of the boy who had been fouled to earn a free kick as his opposite number turned a blind eye. When the same young lad stepped up and smashed the ball into the net – a form of vindication for a frankly dreadful tackle – the coach of the offending team shouted with glee: 'No goal! You can't score from a free kick.' It was a sudden and miraculous recall of the rule book given the utter amnesia that had followed the foul which had led to the set piece.

So, what is the correlation between respect and a Sunday morning tournament in Glasgow? Well, if the changes in England bring about the necessary effect then it will be all well and good. One might be a by-product of the other, of course. But, having witnessed some of the shenanigans at grassroots football matches over the years – and much more recently – it's fair to say that a good proportion of the problems pertaining to respect in football start in those earliest years when bad behaviour is tolerated among players, coaches and professionals and not with the professionals of today.