Misconduct Charges

A County FA will raise disciplinary charges for incidents of misconduct which occur outside of on-field disciplinary procedures, or where an on-field incident meets certain criteria.  Charges can be raised against players, club officials, match officials or against Clubs themselves for failing to ensure their players and/or officials and/or spectators conduct themselves in an orderly manner.  

Types of misconduct charges include, but are not limited to:

• Abusive or discriminatory language    
• Threatening behaviour   
• Violent Conduct   
• Physical contact on a match official
• Acts of assault   
• Mass confrontations between players
• Refusing to complete a match (thereby causing its abandonment)
• Playing under suspension   

What happens after a charge has been raised?

The club secretary will be notified when a charge has been raised.  The case papers and case file are available for download from the Whole Game System.  

It is the club secretary’s responsibility to ensure the player is notified of the charge and confirm how they wish to respond.  

The player/club charged must confirm if they accept or deny the charge and if they wish the case to be dealt with by correspondence or they wish to attend a personal hearing.  There is a fee for personal hearings (£50 at Step 5-6, £30 at Non-NLS/Youth), which will be returned if the case is found not proven. 

More information on accessing and responding to a misconduct charge on the Whole Game System can be found here. 

How are sanctions reached?

The disciplinary commission will first consider whether, having considered all evidence provided, they believe the charge is proven or not proven.  The commission have to be satisfied that that the charge is proven on the balance of probability - ie that it is more likely than not that the incident occurred.

If the charge is found proven, the commission will first consider the severity of the incident and review the player/club’s five year disciplinary record.  They will then consult The FA’s Sanction Guidelines and consider any aggravating or mitigating factors that may lead to a reduced or increased penalty before reaching a decision on what sanctions should be imposed.  

More Information

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For more information about discipline in grassroots football, please visit www.Berks-BucksFA.com. Alternatively, find us on socials @berksandbucksfa for the latest news and updates.