Suspensions

Can anyone shed some light on the following:

Our player called a lino a f-ing cheat, from 40 yards away and the ref showed him a red card, our player then stormed off the pitch and we (the other players) had to give his name. Now, not calling this good behaviour, but, so far, county fa have given him the standard £25 plus £10 admin charge for the red card and a two match ban. In addition to this, they have given him a further £55 fine and another 5 match ban to include Saturdays.

The way i read the letter he should be banned for Saturday, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday and another Saturday - this is 5 matches banned including Saturdays, however, i have been told that what it actually means is that he is banned for 5 Sunday matches and also cant play Saturdays during this period? Can anyone shed any light as this means our player is essentially banned for 12 matches as he plays every Saturday. And also means he would have missed 7 games for our club, a third of the season.....and we gave the ref the players name anyway....

On a side note, does it seem excessive to anyone else? I am pretty fuming about the extent of this ban, and whilst not condoning the incident, missing 12 matches for storming off a pitch when you get sent off seems ridiculous. But then, i havent been a club sec for that long so maybe thats the way things are? Just pray that no players do anything serious like a two footed lunge on a player as thats probably a lifetime ban.....

If general opinion is that a 12 match ban (if you are being pedantic) or a 7 match ban for NRI at best is acceptable then i will zip it on this issue.....any opinions? (again, not condoning the behaviour, just questioning the punishment).


Oh and i can appeal it if i want....just attach a cheque for £100 with your appeal.....behave County....

Very excessive. Especially if the lino was a flipping cheat!
We have had incidents like this in nearly every game this season and I have never seen a red card produced. Must have been a pretty strict referee. And can you blame the county for adding on a cheeky bit extra. Its how they make their money.

The 100 quid for an appeal is just there to stop you appealing, how many people would appeal for free? And how many appeal when you have to pay?

Exactly, i see it nearly every week, players calling linos a cheat, i had some numpty from Birstall Stamford give me grief but i just laughed at him....i know its not right, but our lad was literally on the other side of the pitch when he said it....

The appeal fee is ridiculous, very few clubs can afford it...i am all for making sure you dont get every red card challenged, but the cost to appeal is about 25% more than the total of the two fines....

Also happens to be one of our most important players, and its coming up to Christmas and he has two kids...so he has to find £80 (well the club does initially) and he loses £40 a week from his Saturday team....if a player is banned for 5 games then he should only be banned from the Sunday leagues if it happened on a Sunday. Can you imagine Scott Parker getting a 3 match ban at international level and then being told he cant play any games in between for Spurs.........??

Surely there's no one playing in division three on £40 a week!!

BigTimeCharlie wrote:

Surely there's no one playing in division three on £40 a week!!

Haha yeah there is mate....we have one player, and i believe there are at least 4 other players in the division that get paid to play for saturday teams....its quite competitive down here

my understanding was that sunday bans only referred to sunday games and so on? has he been sent off on a saturday also?

also, just thinking about it - it could be deemed he made it even worse for himself by going off and not giving his name. (appreciate that you guys gave it). a quick call to the county for clarification is your only option on this one

Yeah i called County last week and left a message with someone but they didnt call back, i am away at the moment and if i am going to spend £1 a minute on a phone call i want to be cracking one off at the same time. I have emailed them as well to find out....Dawn is usually helpful as is Chris Bray, so i am not slating them, its the ones they wheel out to make a judgement that have annoyed me...prior to that game we hadnt had a yellow card either so asked for leniency, plus we only got one red all last season, which was for a dubious (in my opinion) handball....i had asked the players to try and keep the yellows to a minimum this season as i wanted to improve our disciplinary record, but now, and yes its sour grapes, i dont care how many yellows we get, and i am of a similar opinion about reds (as long as they are not for violence) because it doesnt matter if you have a good fair play record or a bad record, you are going to get slammed by County....so why bother trying to get your players to behave!!

He did make it worse by not giving his name, although he says he said his name as he walked off, just didnt go up to the ref, two of our lads near him also heard that, but you have to have video evidence, and unfortunately MOTD2 wasnt on that weekend lol

I thought it would be one or the other, but the paperwork says 5 match ban including saturdays and sundays....if he misses 5 Saturday games we run the risk of losing him permanently as Sundays are a bit of fun for him and like most of us, losing £200 isnt much fun....

Abusive language to a match official and misconduct in the form of further abuse and refusing to give his name is bound to result in a stiff fine.

It was explained in full at our AGM that misconduct after being sent off or after the game results in bans from all football, it is just the red that applies to the day in question. This policy as well as the size of the Appeal Fee is set by the FA and not by County FA.

The judgements on Further Misconduct are made by a panel of three League delegates to County FA

Whilst I sympathise with the extent of the ban, we were warned at the handbook meeting about the change of rules regarding the way suspensions are carried out. I'm guessing that while he is banned for the 7 games for NRI he is unable to play Saturdays also due to the sending off being upgraded as thats when it affects the other leagues you play in.

Does seem excessive though Widds,...I wouldnt be happy either if one of our lads got upgraded for that offence.

Fair enough Dennis, i thought we had gone on to match based rather than time based suspensions, and this suspension appears to be for 10 games even though it says only 5....which in my mind is a bit ridiculous in my opinion....as i say, our lad says he said his name as he walked off, but with no video evidence not much Sunday clubs can do, just keep losing money.

Dennis, you say league officials, is that alliance league officials? We had no prior bookings this season in about 6 games, seems over the top in my mind.

Cheers Duane, like i say, i agree that there should be apunishment, linos are generally doing the job because they are not in the starting 11 so cut them some slack, but banned for all these games seems over the top....

If i could understand it i would begrudgingly accept it!

Ridiculous that he is going to miss over a 3rd of our league season for a few swear words, even in the Prem you can spit in a players face and only get 3 a game ban, Rooney boots someone and gets a 3 game ban but our player on a sunday fecking morning swears and gets a 12 match ban, wtf.

Also in the same game the opposition also had a player sent off for the same thing twice, he however got 2 yellow cards, I bet that will result in a 1 game ban.

Fecking disgrace

Yeah I feel for you. There is something seriously wrong with the County FA's discipline department.

dan_mitchell_WRFC wrote:

Yeah I feel for you. There is something seriously wrong with the County FA's discipline department.

Unfortunately i think County FA are bound by FA HQ rules...obviously down to interpretation....but am glad its not just me being over sensitive about the issue....!!

I still think there needs to be clarification on how (or if) the saturday games have come to be affected. Let us know Widds if you find out as I am curious!

and if i am going to spend £1 a minute on a phone call i want to be cracking one off at the same time.


you're just a shrinking violet aren't you Widds - they should put this comment on your headstone!

Clive Bruce once sent off one of our players for calling a linesman exactly the same thing, and beware - if you get Clive, the red will come out each and every time. Now i'm not saying that is wrong or indeed Clive was wrong, but the only thing that frustrated me at the time was that the linesman in question was not a neutral or impartial 'official'. Here's an interesting thought though - why is it that strikers never swear at neutral officials in games where there are some, but feel it's ok to abuse 'club' helpers?

will do bud, it is the after match incident, although the odd thing is the ref said he was going to give a yellow but upgraded because he says the player didnt give his name....but anyway, the after game actions of walking off appear to have resulted in the extended ban....shame really, but i will let you know once i hear from County

Polska legend II wrote:

and if i am going to spend £1 a minute on a phone call i want to be cracking one off at the same time.


you're just a shrinking violet aren't you Widds - they should put this comment on your headstone!

haha....yeah sometimes i forget this is a public forum haha

It does seem very harsh Widds, on a Saturday one of our players has a misconduct charge over his head but we requested a personal hearing which costs about £30 but we feel in this case its worth it. You might have had that option to begin with. We havn't had the hearing yet but its due any time soon, just waiting on the paperwork from county

moving on to a general point, I still think far too many players indulge in ridiculous dissent towards referees and linesmen and think it is ok to do so. And as a ref, I see more and more club linesmen getting constant stick and being accused of 'cheating' when generally they are not. in my opinion it is one of the hardest elements of the game to referee. but the abuse thing is still at large in many games, and perhaps stems from what these guys have seen on sky tv over the last 20 years.

He is banned from all football as it has gone down as a misconduct charge rather than a sending off offence widds if that makes sense? Our secretary called county fa to clarify as we could have done without losing him, especially with how he is playing at the minute!

Oh and he isn't being paid to play saturdays!

Polska legend II wrote:

Clive Bruce once sent off one of our players for calling a linesman exactly the same thing, and beware - if you get Clive, the red will come out each and every time. Now i'm not saying that is wrong or indeed Clive was wrong, but the only thing that frustrated me at the time was that the linesman in question was not a neutral or impartial 'official'. Here's an interesting thought though - why is it that strikers never swear at neutral officials in games where there are some, but feel it's ok to abuse 'club' helpers?

Very true...oddly enough, we got a fine at the beginning of last year for someone (non-playing/managing but dog walking) on the sides shouting at Clive...maybe we do have previous!!

Thats a good question, which suggests sometimes its not just a loss of control, or maybe its because a striker is more likely to believe if someone calls him offside if he (and his team) doesnt have anything to gain from it. But it is wrong and when i am playing i will always tell any of our lads to calm it if i think they are going over the top....all for the Respect to officials (all three)

could have done with you and that attitude on Saturday! can't say anymore as it may well be in the hands of the county...

Not to rub salt in the wounds but the lad was about 5 yards on! Shocking decision!

sgoodman wrote:

He is banned from all football as it has gone down as a misconduct charge rather than a sending off offence widds if that makes sense? Our secretary called county fa to clarify as we could have done without losing him, especially with how he is playing at the minute!

Oh and he isn't being paid to play saturdays!

that explains it, understand it now.

sgoodman wrote:

He is banned from all football as it has gone down as a misconduct charge rather than a sending off offence widds if that makes sense? Our secretary called county fa to clarify as we could have done without losing him, especially with how he is playing at the minute!

Oh and he isn't being paid to play saturdays!

You play with him on a Saturdays then?

Not being paid? You guys are getting a good deal then lol....our manager thought he was being paid...ahh well thats one good thing i guess, at least he isnt losing any income.

So you guys lose him for five games as well.....ouch....well if you are short of a midfield maestro give me a call pal.....kind of like a box to box player but just in the centre circly

Quote :

moving on to a general point, I still think far too many players indulge in ridiculous dissent towards referees and linesmen and think it is ok to do so. And as a ref, I see more and more club linesmen getting constant stick and being accused of 'cheating' when generally they are not. in my opinion it is one of the hardest elements of the game to referee. but the abuse thing is still at large in many games, and perhaps stems from what these guys have seen on sky tv over the last 20 years.

Good case in point Mark was when I gave that offside decision for our Saturday side when you were ref, it was the most obvious offside and the lad called me a f-ing cheating c**t!! Remember??

Couldnt see if he was onside Jay, but the general opinion was that he was onside, but i know from doing lino duties a bit recently whilst injured, its not easy....i start looking at clouds and all sorts!!

Yes and on sundays before that, we could lose him for more than that as he can't play until NRI have played 5 games and with it being the winter period and all that!

Magna 73 Sec wrote:

Good case in point Mark was when I gave that offside decision for our Saturday side when you were ref, it was the most obvious offside and the lad called me a f-ing cheating c**t!! Remember??

Thats disgraceful!! You arent a cheat.....

So basically, if a ref didnt like a player, he could just make a misconduct charge up knowing full way there are no means to appeal or anything. By the way I'm not saying that this has ever happened but it could.

Quote :

Thats disgraceful!! You arent a cheat.....

Truthfully, I wouldn't have the balls to cheat!!

I'm kinda surprised a kept up with play to be fair, you know being about 50 stone and with a half torn calf muscle!!

haha yeah i did more running as a lino than in goal lol

Magna 73 Sec wrote:

Quote :

moving on to a general point, I still think far too many players indulge in ridiculous dissent towards referees and linesmen and think it is ok to do so. And as a ref, I see more and more club linesmen getting constant stick and being accused of 'cheating' when generally they are not. in my opinion it is one of the hardest elements of the game to referee. but the abuse thing is still at large in many games, and perhaps stems from what these guys have seen on sky tv over the last 20 years.

Good case in point Mark was when I gave that offside decision for our Saturday side when you were ref, it was the most obvious offside and the lad called me a f-ing cheating c**t!! Remember??

I do but didn't realise the extent of the abuse u got! That guy should have walked!

Magna 73 Sec wrote:

Quote :

Thats disgraceful!! You arent a cheat.....

Truthfully, I wouldn't have the balls to cheat!!

I'm kinda surprised a kept up with play to be fair, you know being about 50 stone and with a half torn calf muscle!!

U got a better report off the assessor than I did!

Widds wrote:

haha yeah i did more running as a lino than in goal lol

My dad once gave some guy directions whilst running the line with his back 2 the pitch! Those were the days

Interestingly, i spoke to two guys at the recent Dukla vs CSKA match, one of whom was an alliance committee member, the other the secretary of one of the most high profile clubs in the LSL, and they were ex refs and said they preferred it when they were reffing as they gave it back a bit. One of them said along the lines 'when someone started shouting i would call them over and say - go on then, you have 30 seconds to say exactly what you think of me' and apparently players used to just be gob smacked...and stay quiet....

Basically, refs, linos, alliance committee, county fa, fa hq, footie teams, all on the same side....only those at the top of FIFA that seem against footie completely!

One last question, if you do lodge an appeal, pay the £100, if you are succesful do you get it back?

And would getting the ban reduced be classed as being succesful and therefore get the money back? All still a bit new to me!

Widds wrote:

One last question, if you do lodge an appeal, pay the £100, if you are succesful do you get it back?

And would getting the ban reduced be classed as being succesful and therefore get the money back? All still a bit new to me!

You should get it back if successful as if a charge is overturned then there is no charge! But a reduction would not equal a refund as part of the charge would still stand