A 'heat of the moment' comment during a Sunday League match has led to one player being banned for six games.

Guru Nanak Sunday's Talvin Bahia admitted two Football Association discipline charges following a heated verbal exchange with a player from AFC Phoenix.

It was alleged that Bahia made the comment "faggot" while being provoked and was sent off. He was charged with improper conduct (including foul and abusive language) and a second charge of improper conduct, aggravated by a person's ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, faith, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

The commission noted that the player, who had previously had an unblemished disciplinary record, appeared candid and remorseful during his oral plea of mitigation. He was credited for accepting the charge at the earliest opportunity.

He picked up a minimum six-match suspension (inclusive of the suspension already served as a result of the red card) and was fined £75 while he must also complete a mandatory online education programme. The decision was subject to appeal.

The FA relied upon evidence from match referee Hamish Louie and a player from the opposition.

Mr Louie said he dismissed Bahia for using homophobic language towards an AFC Phoenix player, calling him a faggot. He also noted that the behaviour of the Guru Nanak bench "was appalling...constantly heckling the AFC Phoenix players."

The referee said that the AFC Phoenix captain complained that his players had been shouted at with threats of "we are going to spit on you and we are going to stab you up." The referee said he didn't hear these remarks.

He later added that a few of the AFC Phoenix players had expressed they were feeling intimidated by the language coming from the substitutes' bench and after the referee spoke to the Guru Nanak manager about the situation, things calmed down for the rest of the match.

The player representing AFC Phoenix during the proceeding said that Bahia "was very irate, and was shouting at everyone to calm down, but he was the only one who was not calm.

"I told him to calm down myself, to which he got in my face and said 'I will spit in your face you dirty ****', he then proceeded to call me a 'fat faggot'.

"To be honest, I know the term faggot is homophobic, but I was more annoyed about the fact he had threatened to spit in my face, especially with the Covid pandemic. The referee heard this and gave him a red card for the homophobic language."

Mr Bahia accepted the charge and in an email, wrote: "'...Firstly I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. (They) were inappropriate and I failed to show maturity to you and the team. I know that this behaviour is unacceptable and irresponsible.

"I would like to say that I have learnt from this and the next time I find myself in such a situation or environment, I will handle it with maturity and I will compose myself, and do my best to make sure that I don't repeat my actions.

"Continuing onto the explanation of the incident that occurred, the opposition had stood on my foot, and pushed me to the ground which I then fell and as I fell onto the opposition player he then gave me a kick and not being myself in anger I got up and retaliated and unfortunately used foul language which I regret.

"Once again I apologise for my actions and acknowledged that they were wrong and I hope we can move forward."

Mr Bahia said there was no meaning behind the use of the word faggot and it was a heat of the moment thing but let his anger get the better of him. He said that during the incident the Phoenix player was whispering insults in his ear.

He said he apologised to the referee straight away and that he helps out at the Sikh temple, next to the home pitch, on a Tuesday and Saturday handing out food and washing the dishes. Club chairman Tony Rana said he found the player pleasant and respectful.

Guru Nanak submitted a statement of their own, saying: "'It is very clear that there were issues with both sets of players and spectators and our young manager has taken it upon himself to talk to the whole team about their behaviour but I do not think they were the only ones whose behaviour was not as it should have been last Sunday.

"The club itself takes any kind of discrimination very seriously and our welfare officer is available to talk to all players and staff should they feel in anyway discriminated against.

"Guru Nanak has a very good name in the local community and fought against discrimination in the game over the last 50 years with even our chairman being the chair of the KCFA Inequality Group, this kind of behaviour goes against everything the club stands for."