Why do players treat officials the way they do?

aving recently sat through six weeks of the cricket world cup held here in South Africa, I began to ponder why players treat referees the way they do.

Soccer abuse easily "kicks" hockey away.

Being a keen follower of English soccer, I am often appalled at the way players storm at the referee and dispute the call using all sorts of language and gestures — and nothing happens. In cricket, the player will not even risk showing any sort of dissent at the umpire’s decision for risk of being fined a portion of, or the entire match fee.

And somewhere in between we have hockey.

The question is why do the various sports allow the varying degrees of "abuse" towards its officials?

As hockey referees we have the power to penalize offenders, but why should we have to resort to that? Is it acceptable that the culture of hockey makes it a "part of the game" that players and spectators alike abuse officials? Is it not possible to change that culture?

Continued...