Referees are blamed at every level of the game for costing teams points, and in some cases, championships and league titles. Most of the time there is defintely merit in any appeals or complaints that are likely to follow. I think we can all say we've been on the end of it.
If anybody is familiar with the SA Gaelic league, there is one fella that used to ref and had to cop it week in, week out from players (myself included) on the park totally gobsmacked and pissed off with one poor decision after another. One grand final, he over rode the scoreboard at the end of the game showing us winning by a point and declared the game a draw with a replay the week after and waved away absolutely EVERYBODY who told him different. And this was probably one of his good days.
Anyhow, whenever any complaints or appeals were put into the proper channels for review, the answer at the end of it was without fail "He's all we've got! Why don't YOU do it?"
My point is that this happens absolutely everywhwere at every level of the game, but in regards to local levels, the standard reply to any gripe with a referee will always be along the lines of "Why don't you get out there and referee then?" This is pretty much all refs and league admins have to deflect any spotlight aimed at the incompetence of their officials, but you'll hear it time and time again.
And while this is the mindset, there will be no improvement in refereeing, which means refs will continue to be abused, which means nobody wants to be a ref, which means there will be no improvement in refereeing........ and round and round we go.