From today's Guardian in relation to the Notts Forest complains, it appears in England, referees must declare any allegiance to a club.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/apr/22/nottingham-forest-pgmol-release-audio-everton-game-premier-league
At the moment officials have to declare their club allegiances and any others they have links to. This means they cannot officiate on the teams they support nor direct geographical or historical rivals to avoid a conflict of interest. Notts Forest want to add to this allegiances to account for contextual rivalries in the league table, not just local rivalries.
I was not aware of this requirement on referees. If the rule were to be extended from supported club and rivalries to include clubs battling for relegation/european spots, it's a wonder they could get any referees to officiate, or maybe referees in England are devoid of any affiliations to premiership teams.
Imaging if such a rule were to apply in Scotland.......