My teammate insulted our volunteer football referee. As captain, how do I intervene?
Sports"He's only here because nobody else wanted the whistle," our striker said, loudly enough for the referee to hear. Two players laughed. I laughed too, then realised the referee was putting the ball down and asking whether we wanted to finish the match ourselves.
I'm captain of an adult weekend football side. The referee is a club volunteer, and he'd made a decision I thought was wrong. That explains the frustration; it doesn't make the personal remark useful. I told our striker to leave it, but he said captains should back their own players.
Now the organiser wants to know whether our team can be trusted to play next weekend. I'd like to apologise to the referee and make clear that our striker can't keep doing this. I'm also aware that my laugh helped turn one remark into a team performance.
How do I take responsibility for that moment and set a boundary without making an empty threat about removing a player when selection isn't entirely mine?