FOUL and abusive language in Jamaica’s football is tarnishing the integrity of the local game, drawing fierce backlash from veteran observers and prompting worried officials to mull drastic action to curb the ugly trend.

What Jamaicans know as “bad word cursing”, once regarded as rare, has risen to alarming levels in recent years, observers claim, especially among players, coaches and team officials. It has earned partial blame for dwindling levels in fan attendance — in what should be a family friendly environment, inclusive of children — even before the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“The use of foul and abusive language is not yet out of control,” admitted Victor Stewart, head of the Referees’ Department at the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), which governs the game, “but it’s not acceptable.”

Others were more blunt.

“[Cursing] has escalated over the past decade now,” said Lebert Halliman, who has coached at school and club levels in Jamaica.

“It’s a breakdown. You find it with the coaches and managers and it’s filtered down now to the players. The coaches use it to the players. Now, the players are using it.”

“It’s so blatant now, the cursing,” said Elaine Walker-Brown, a former player, coach and referee and current president of the St Catherine Football Association. “It’s terrible. It’s horrible.”

Cursing can even be heard by fans not attending games. It’s often picked up on microphones for stations broadcasting live and carried into Jamaican homes.

According to Dr Claire Grant, general manager of Television Jamaica, the station considered building a Plexiglas™ box for commentators. The aim was to prevent expletives by spectators from infiltrating the live football broadcast. Dr Grant said the quality of TVJ‘s audio coverage was often compromised as the station battled to “bleep out” curse words coming from the crowd.

“It was a concern,” she said.

Another station reportedly asked teams directly to stop cursing as it had difficulty preventing the words from filtering into the live broadcast.

With COVID-19 protocols drastically reducing attending spectators, and the noise they bring, cursing can now be heard more clearly coming from the field of play, embellishing what some have called a “hooligan sport” image and threatening football’s vital lifelines.

“It’s taking away spectators and corporate sponsors,” said Stewart. “[Football] is losing its appeal. That’s the biggest damage to the game.

“What I see now is: The cursing is watering down the game and turning off people from the game,” Walker-Brown said. “You can’t bring your children to the game. A decent person can’t associate themselves with that behaviour.”

In recent years a coach was reportedly dismissed from a prominent high school not only because he lost to an arch-rival, but because of the foul and abusive language he used to players after the defeat. Other coaches have committed similar offences, but have gone largely unpunished.

Keith Wellington, president of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), was adamant cursing by players and team officials is “not commonplace”.

“It’s not an issue for schoolboy football as far as I’m aware,” Wellington said.

He admitted there have been incidents, but claimed those were isolated and swiftly addressed by ISSA or the individual school.

“Whenever instances come up, we have dealt with them,” Wellington explained. “We have not had many encounters and we will not accept [cursing] as acceptable behaviour.”

During the recently concluded schoolboy season, referees issued cautions to persons on the bench for what they said during the game.

The precise number and type of disciplinary actions taken by referees in response to the use of indecent language at games could not be determined. Up to press time, attempts to get that information from the Referees’ Department were unsuccessful.

However, the rising trend of cursing has been evident during the 2022 Jamaica Premier League (JPL) season. “B….c….”, “r… c….”, “f… y..”, “suck you m….” and other expletives echoed repeatedly at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence during, for example, three double-headers between January 23 and 25.

According to Stewart, rules from world football’s governing body Fifa state “foul” means the language is cursing, but not directed at anyone. That reason is used by some referees for ignoring the offence. However, referees are authorised to take action, including issuing cautions (yellow cards), especially if foul language is excessive during games.

The language escalates to “abusive” when it is directed at someone — referees, players, coaches and even spectators. That’s regarded as a more serious offence, Stewart said, and referees can caution or dismiss anyone at the match venue for foul and abusive language. It’s part of their job of managing the game.

“The referee is mandated to enforce the laws of the game,” said Stewart. “You need to have control.

“The aggressive, pointed way in which the language is used, and the context, determines if it is foul and abusive. It can be foul language, but not abusive.”

Foul language largely went unpunished during the six games from January 23-25. However, Cavalier’s Jamoi Topey was shown a red card in a game against Waterhouse for, according to Referee Odette Hamilton, using “abusive and insulting language” to her. As Topey was leaving the field other players could be heard using foul language.

Jamaican law prohibits the use of expletives in public, although there’s no known official list of such language — that is left to the discretion of law enforcement officers, often present at club and school games. Cursing in public can bring a fine or imprisonment. Enforcing the law could act as a deterrent to cursing in football.

“If I’m at a game and I hear that type of language, if police is there I would ask them to speak to the players or coaches,” said Halliman who also serves as a justice of the peace, “[and] to tell them that language is not allowed in public spaces, and if they continue the police will charge them.”

According to Stewart, the use of foul language at games is “not new” but he admitted it “is more prevalent” than when he started refereeing in 1983. He’s concerned about the lack of effort to curtail it.

“I’m not convinced that the clubs are trying to stop it,” explained Stewart, who lists development of referees as part of his mandate.

Former players, some now coaches, have noticed the sharp uptick in cursing.

“It’s the norm now for players to curse on and off the field, especially on the field,” said Paul Young, who played for Jamaica in the 1980s and 1990s and has held multiple coaching jobs in the country.

The problem, Stewart explained, needs a dramatic fix. He called for stronger enforcement of the game’s existing laws by referees, who share blame for not stamping out cursing.

“I will not stand here and tell you that the referees are not culpable,” Stewart said. “They have the responsibility to make sure offences like these do not propagate throughout the game. They have the responsibility to control it. Sometimes they allow it, which is in contrast to their teaching.”

Others were more forceful in their criticism.

“When you curse it’s a sign of disrespect,” explained Young. “The referees allow it to happen.”

“It’s a disgrace,” said Halliman. “[Cursing shows] no respect for authority. I put it at the foot of the people who lead.”

“When I was a referee this [cursing] couldn’t happen,” added Walker-Brown. “I blame the referees.”

There appears no single reason for the upsurge in cursing in local football. Some fault a decline in society’s standards of discipline.

“The youngsters playing now are a different breed,” said Stewart.

Lax team officials, systems of play which promote individuals over team, lack of respect, immaturity and cultural changes are also blamed for the problem. Many believe the ear-sore behaviour is copied from watching foreign football leagues where players and coaches can be seen cursing openly.

In Jamaica the disrespect starts in schools, Halliman said, festering in the “win at all costs now” atmosphere where officials don’t do enough “due diligence” when hiring coaches who are known to flout the law and ignore common decency.

“If I’m a coach and I hear my player using indecent language, I’m going to pull him,” Halliman said. “But that’s not happening. I don’t know if the coaches are afraid.

“It’s very poor. If so much bad words are being cursed and you’re not doing anything, it’s going to get worse — and I’m really concerned.

“So schoolboys are doing it, so when they get to the premier league they continue. No coach can say they’ve not heard it.”