With the sound of military boots ominously drowning that of players' studs at the moment, it seems to me opportune at this time of terrorism and war to put a few things into perspective a little, as several intelligent and sensitive players have done since 11 September. But why, I wonder, do we not manage to keep a sense of equilibrium when there is no risk over our heads? In peacetime we too seldom hear people saying that it is "only a football match" and we instead indulge in all kinds of histrionics, appealing to the whole world for a penalty, an offside decision or a debatable yellow card, all of which are of derisory significance in proportion to what the rest of humanity is all about.

When society loses its bearings so easily without others standing up and saying Stop, then things have come to a pretty pass. And referees of various shapes and sizes and colours around the world would not disagree.

These thoughts passed through my mind when I read a letter recently that I had received from a promising young referee in a provincial part of France, whose cry from the heart said: "We are less and less safe on the regional football pitches of our country (and whose fault is that?) and referees are losing their credibility so much in the eyes of the players and spectators as well as of the various committees despite the reports we submit to them, that I have decided to face the consequences and to pack up refereeing before I suffer this growing violence personally. When you think that 150 of my colleagues have already done the same thing so far this season, this makes you wonder. I'm not the first and I won't be the last to hang up my whistle in disappointment, but if I were you I would do the same before it's too late."

We have to admit that this is anything but an isolated case among referees in the provinces. There, there are not enough referees to go round for all the matches being played and it is driving them crazy to have to train new referees every year only to see them disappear again just as quickly. The whole procedure seems to be a bit of a waste of time and the turnover is doing the whole operation little good. Not to mention the ridiculous situation whereby if there is a referee available he only gets criticised, while if there are not enough then everyone cries out for more! Human nature...

As World and European Champions, France has seen the number of players grow in inverse proportion to the growth rate among referees, the latter fading like melting snow. And I am well aware that this is not a phenomenon exclusive to France.

But I am still simple enough to believe that all is not lost as long as our cry for help can make itself heard by those in charge of refereeing and by those who have already done so much, even if there are many reasons why they cannot do as much as they would like. There is the power of the media, as well as that of money or of political ambition, and it is never a popular move to impose penalties.

Many efforts have already been made and of course there is no miraculous recipe for encouraging new candidates because they have nothing else to do. But I would still like to make a few suggestions, such as:

• designating a promotional FIFA Year of the Referee, at international level among the confederations and national associations
• pushing the message, so often neglected, that football was not invented for referees (the game existed before they did) but that human error soon made their introduction necessary
• making teams understand that referees do not grow on trees but that most of them actually evolve through the clubs themselves, and so the latter would be well advised to think of this ahead of time to make sure they are ready for it. And instead of blaming referee committees for their "incompetent referees", they should remember these referees are none other than the basic material that has come through the club system itself. After all, the more candidates there are, the greater the choice and the better the final quality.
• encouraging promotional campaigns and in the media, making sure that heavy financial investments are not swallowed up by the customary counter-publicity of bad examples from top-level competitions in which players go unpunished for making all kinds of defamatory gestures or remarks about refereeing decisions, examples that make potential match officials feel more like going fishing rather than taking up a career with the whistle.
• applying sanctions without hesitation and regardless of the players involved, what may be at stake or the level of competition. As I have said before on this page, I would like to see a code of conduct integrated into the Laws of the Game to reduce the pressure on referees, with a more uniform approach to disciplinary measures for those who damage the game or its officials. This would help to eliminate misunderstandings.

Moreover, I think we should also sell our own image better by not always talking about the stigma attached to our job when in fact the truly devoted referee would never give it up for all the gold in the world. And maybe the time has come to change our tune by putting the absolute priority on the many good reasons for taking up a career that offers more pleasure than pain, the latter even being useful as it helps our development as human beings.