All referees get a lot of flack from fans, but one ref in England got so much flack he actually cancelled a match.
From The Guardian under the headline "Referee abandons game after 13 minutes in response to moaning fan" (phrasing):
There was widespread surprise when Simon Higgins, the official in charge of the Spartan South Midland Premier League match, called it off after confronting an Edgware supporter who had disagreed with several of his decisions. After the supporter refused to leave, Higgins eventually decided that he could not continue, left the pitch and later apologised to an Edgware official before leaving the ground.
The referee is either very thin-skinned or the fan did his homework and found the ref's weak points. We're not sure which.
Also, you should be nice to referees, especially early in matches. At least wait for them to make a questionable call against your team to insult them. If you're nice, maybe they'll subconsciously start to shade calls your team's way because of how nice you're being!
Try it. Maybe it'll work.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
