Refs and officials protect their own, they are like a pack of wolves. Someone I know is a ref at a high level and whenever I see him at Xmas we always get to a heated debate over their jobs and how they do it.
You cannot say anything against a ref without this lad getting very angry, it's like their never ever at fault.
Last weekend my 11 year old son had a game, we played away and had a lad reffing the game that was around 18-19 years old. From the first whistle the opposition parents where basically calling the shots and fouls, and he got so bogged down listening to them he actually started looking at them when an incident happened, to see the reaction, and he would act on their reaction. Half way through the second half the game had stopped for a foul, I called the ref over and told him to stop the game, he did and he came over and asked me what the problem was. I said to him, you are allowing the opposition parents to dictate this game and you need to man up, be stern with the whistle and give the decision you see fit and stick to it.
For me there is a big problem at lower league grass roots level with referees in this country, the lack of talking they do with young kids as to why a decision is given is bordering on pathetic. Far too shy, far too quiet and for me it's not even any better at the highest level.