Referee Jérôme Brisard and his team are wearing 84 for Nice v Lens in Friday’s Coupe de France final at the Stade de France. According to L’Équipe, the number reflects an IPSOS/BVA survey showing 84% of French people think valuing referees helps protect sport.
Led by La Poste, which has made refereeing promotion central to its sponsorship strategy, the campaign runs until 27 June. It brings together federations and professional leagues in football, rugby, basketball and handball.
Officials across those sports will also wear 84 in the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 promotion play-off second legs, and at the finals of Arkema Première Ligue, Betclic Elite, Top 14 and Axa Elite 1, the French women’s rugby championship. A Crunch Creator match between French and English content creators in Bordeaux on Saturday has joined the campaign.
La Poste brand director Alexandra Mauraisin says the aim is to spark curiosity, using this as a teaser before the full findings are released in October during the Journées de l’arbitrage. The timing is meant to return the issue to the agenda at the start of next season.
She says organisers sensed rising violence towards referees and commissioned the study to assess it, finding perceptions of violence in amateur sport are extremely strong. The problem affects all sports, not only football, with handball cited, and October’s event will outline new federation programmes for the 58,000 referees involved.