As players get older and matches get more intense, rough play is something you have to deal with and work with your team to handle. No amount of yelling at the referee is going to change things if they’ve lost control. So you have to prepare your teams to deal with it and also prepare yourself for an extremely difficult decision should it come to that. ZenMaster has an excellent article with tips and ideas over at ZenFooty. Here’s a snippet:

Games get out of control physically for a number of reasons. Among them are slow play, poor game management by your captain and coach, loss of control by the referee, and lack of personal skills in warding off dirty defenders.

Let me first say that the issue of dirty and abusive play does not start with the referee or the players, it begins with coaching. The tolerance level of the coach has a direct bearing on the ethics of players. The best coaches will reprimand their own players for foul play. I have seen good coaches pull their own players even before the referee takes action.

Emphasis mine. Read the whole thing – excellent stuff.