France: about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, "One can not say whatever they want" (Referees' Union)

"It is time to realise that one can not say whatever they want, do whatever they want, and accept everything without context. Whatever the events of the game are, there are some limits one cannot cross," stated SAFE (Syndicat des Arbitres du Football d'Élite, the French Referees' Union), in a statement entitled "Open letter to football fans" and published on 16/03/2015.

The union is reacting to live comments made by the Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-German, Ligue 1), after the Girondins de Bordeaux - Paris Saint-Germain match (3-2, Matchday 29 of Ligue 1) on 15/03/2015: "In 15 years, I have never seen a [good] referee in this [expletive] country... This country does not even deserve PSG," stated the player on camera while walking to the tunnel.

"The impact of such statements is not trivial to the more than 25,000 referees -- a very small country, in fact -- that work in our championships. The impact is especially terrible with violent phenomena in the football in our countryside, where the referee is often alone and very exposed," stated SAFE in the open…