An interesting thought occurred recently, throughout my time as being a coach I often spent time thinking about certain aspects of conduct and so on, one that confused me the most is arguing with the referee. Not something I spend anytime doing as personally I feel that in this case you would lose the respect of the referee, also on a more superficial basis it isn’t like the referee is going to listen and decide to change his mind based on your argument. The decision is final and he will not be persuaded based on your argument. As the great Brian Clough once said “people forget the referee doesn’t have a slow motion eyeball”
Also other aspect in terms of applying professionalism is your conduct on match day.
Go and meet the opposition management, shake their hand and have a social conversation, ensure that your demeanor is positive and enthusiastic, I have found this attitude to earn respect and positive reputation for any future encounters.
During the match if the opposition have some injured personnel you may find yourself in a position where you have better supplies available to you, use them to help the opposition also. It is your job to be there for the well being of your players, and everyone else there. Again this will develop a positive reputation on yourself and to be honest I don’t find any of these demands strenuous, do you?
There can be occasions, and don’t get me wrong they are rare, where the opposition are highly disrespectful, where teams argue everything, generally do everything in their to breach the rules of sportsmanship. In this instance this is indeed not your problem, maintain high values and standards in terms of your attitude and conduct and it will earn you respect.