The ''Big Kick-Off'' has brought with it a big kick-off for the FA’s new respect for referees campaign. Branded ''Respect'', the campaign has been prominent during the opening weekend of the Football League season, and equally so at the Community Shield.

The new initiative has been promoted heavily; Manchester United and Portsmouth players were seen sporting T-shirts with the word ''respect'' on them during their warm-ups at Wembley yesterday, match officials also donned the T-shirts over the course of the weekend as they took part in their pre-match rituals, full-page advertisements were placed in national newspapers, and the FA also launched a ''viral'' video campaign featuring, among others, Fabio Capello, Howard Webb, Les Ferdinand and ''Barry from Eastenders''.

The campaign itself is a direct response to a growing number of referees quitting the game at amateur level in response to the abuse they receive from players, coaches and fans alike. As highlighted by Durham FA company secretary John Topping: "Many referees leave the game because of the comments and the behaviour they have to tolerate from outside of the pitch, from parents and coaches."

The FA is hoping that cutting out the abuse officials receive at the highest level will encourage similar effects at amateur and youth levels.

Last season, the issue of respect, or lack of it, towards officials in the Premier League was heavily scrutinised. Ashley Cole and Javier Mascherano were the perpetrators in high-profile incidents.

The issue of disrespect towards match officials has existed for many years, and this isn’t the FA’s first attempt at trying to eradicate this major problem from the sport. The 2001/02 season saw the introduction of the 10-yard rule, which punished dissent by moving free-kicks 10 yards closer to the offender’s goal. To begin with the rule was effective, but over the course of the season it disappeared, before finally being scrapped altogether by FIFA in June 2005 due to ''a four-year trial period in England proving unsuccessful''.

Ian Blanchard, head of national referee development, has tried to ease any suggestion that this will be yet another FA campaign which fades away into obscurity, saying: “We are not expecting anything to change overnight, and this is not a campaign or a recruitment drive that will run for a couple of months then fade away. We are in this for the long run, though hopefully people should start to see a difference right away.”

The effect the new campaign has depends largely upon how it is enforced during the opening few weeks of the season. Referees need to set a precedent to show that disrespect will not be tolerated at all. Less of Mike Riley’s leniency towards Ashley Cole and more of Steve Bennett’s intolerance of Mascherano’s behaviour is undoubtedly the order of the day.

Its effectiveness on the opening weekend has set a good marker, but this stance needs to continue throughout the coming weeks. Arguably, the greatest test for the campaign will be when the Premier League kicks off next weekend. Greater attention will be paid to the refereeing decisions in these more high-profile matches.

If the Respect campaign is to have any chance of succeeding, it needs to start at the very top. In recent seasons, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho have all been guilty of unacceptable behaviour towards officials. The managers and coaches need to set the examples that are to be followed on the pitch. Only then will respect towards referees and assistants filter down to the lower levels.

Perhaps the key to having respect shown to match officials is that players, coaches and fans have to acknowledge that mistakes are going to be made throughout the course of game, and the course of a season. The referees are, after all, only human.

Yes, it is extremely frustrating when a decision goes against your team, but referees don’t make bad decisions on purpose, it is just part and parcel of the game we love, and without these moments of controversy football would become less enthralling.

Critics will suggest that this campaign doesn’t go far enough. Many think the system used in rugby is needed. Attaching microphones to rugby officials enables everyone in attendance and watching on television to hear players and referees and has virtually eradicated all instances of dissent and foul language in professional rugby.

One reason why the FA would be slow to adopt such a system, though, lies in the fundamentals of the FA’s decision-making. Their belief is that changes made to the laws of the game need to be applicable at all levels.

The overall aim for the FA’s campaign is to increase the number of qualified referees. The problem is not the recruitment of officials, but retaining them. If successful, the Respect campaign should go a long way towards reducing the number of referees giving up due to the disrespect they suffer.