‘A SENIOR COUNTY REFEREE (Level 5) from the Barkston Ash District has had his registration suspended by the West Riding County FA for a period of 42 days commencing on 3rd January 2005.

The suspension has been imposed for failure to submit the appropriate misconduct report forms following the dismissal of player during a game.

County FA Secretary, Roy Carter, stated

“The action of the Referees Commission shows that the County FA will come down heavily on any match official who does not report misconduct or who submits incorrect reports. All referees have a responsibility to abide by the regulations of the Football Association in this respect and have a duty to ensure that the West Riding County FA can carry out its role effectively. Match officials act as witnesses for the County FA – they should not consider themselves to be prosecutor, judge and / or jury.

It is also vital for the clubs  concerned that a consistent approach is made by all referees as there are too many occasions whereby club secretaries are unsure as to whether sending off or caution reports have been submitted initially as the first indication they may receive is a reminder letter with an additional payment required by the County FA.

Clubs themselves must, however, contact the County Office if they do not receive the original paperwork relating to the misconduct. The County Office receives numerous telephone calls / emails / letters from club secretaries, who have received the reminder indicating that an additional amount has been levied for non-payment of the original administration charge and / or fine, with the usual reason for the call etc being that the original report has not been received and they have ‘assumed’ that the referee has not submitted it to the County Office.  The ‘assumption’ becomes expensive for clubs, particularly in relation to the new caution reports forms devised  by the Football Association whereby multiples of cautions are included on the same form. As an example, a club may have three players cautioned during a game for which an £8-00 administration charge is payable for each. The failure of the club to deal with this matter by the relevant date leads to an additional amount of £20-00 per caution giving a total of £84-00 for the three cautions.

There aren’t many clubs who can afford that amount and it is a serious drain on their resources.  To avoid such action, club secretaries must take a pro-active role by ensuring that their administration is in order and my advice would be – if you don’t receive the necessary paperwork within 7 days of the particular game, get in touch with the County Office.”