THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF A SERIES OF CASES ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION AND HIGHLIGHTED BY KENTONLINE IN A BID TO IMPROVE BEHAVIOUR IN OUR GAME

An incident which saw a football spectator punch an assistant referee in a Sunday League game led to a fine for the guilty club.

The Ashford & District Sunday League fixture between Folkestone United and Fox Sunday in late November was halted briefly when a member of the crowd attacked the match official.

A representative from Folkestone initially told of a different version of events - that the spectator had been hit by a member of the Fox team - but the Football Association disciplinary commission sided with a report from the referee.

The linesman who was allegedly hit was from Fox FC - it’s commonplace for members of each club to act as assistant referees - and Folkestone accepted the charge and were fined £220.

The match referee submitted an extraordinary incident report form after the game and alleged that a Folkestone United spectator had “grabbed the Fox FC linesman by his hoody and hit him (on the side of the head) with a clenched fist.”

The referee added: “I clearly witnessed all of this being only 20 yards away from the incident. I did not hear anything said to either person leading up to the incident on the linesman.

“This then caused all the players and the benches from both teams to get involved.”

The official was informed of those involved and that the Folkestone manager confirmed the person who was alleged to have thrown the punch was a Folkestone United spectator.

After a slight delay, the game continued.

The Kent FA requested further information about the spectator and whether he holds any current footballing roles.

A response from Folkestone responded to the Kent FA’s initial request by stating that “the spectator didn’t punch anyone, the Fox forward punched him, as I was the first man there splitting it up.” He later added that the spectator has “absolutely nothing to do with the club” as far as he was aware.

The match official responded to Folkestone’s counter-claim of the spectator being punched by someone from Fox FC by saying: “100% that was not the case.” He added: “The man from Folkestone Utd FC walked up to the linesman from the Fox FC, grab his hoody by the front of the neck and hit him around the side of his head with his fist.

"I clearly saw and witnessed this because I was looking over to see if an offside was being giving? I saw it all from the word go.”

Folkestone were charged on December 4 and six days later accepted it. As it was considered an extremely serious matter, the guidelines for a fine were between £140-£300. The club’s lack of previous offences and their acceptance of the charge went in their favour.