Havant & Waterlooville boss Paul Doswell has been given a 12-match suspension by the FA following their National League South game at Ebbsfleet United in September 2021.

The FA announced in March last year that Doswell had been charged in breach of FA Rule E3 but it has taken nearly a year for the case to be heard. The charge was proven and Doswell was given a "12-match suspension and education course".

It was alleged that following the fixture, the Participant’s language was abusive and/or insulting and/or improper, contrary to FA Rule E3.1. It is further alleged that this breach of FA Rule E3.1 is an “Aggravated breach” as defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included a reference (express or implied) to nationality.

Doswell was seen in long conversation with referee Richie Watkins both at half-time and after the full-time whistle at Stonebridge Road. The game finished 2-1 to Havant. Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb ‘shook hands’ with members of the Havant management team - except Doswell - after the match.

Ebbsfleet, including Kutrieb, were still on the field at the time and there then appeared to be an incident between both parties, which left the Fleet boss visibly angry.

Speaking in September 2021, Kutrieb said: "It’s tough for me to speak about it.

“Last season (2020/21) we experienced at their place some bad things and other authorities dealt with it or are trying to deal with it at the moment. I don’t want to say too much but it happened again.

“That’s really hard to take because if we win or lose that’s easy for me. Of course, I hate losing but I can take it because we played a good game. But all other things are not for me and it’s not football. It’s [about being a] human being and behaving in the right way.

“I see every player taking the knee and everyone is aware of it and you talk about it, but as long as you have people that don’t care about it then you don’t need to do it from my point of view.

“Hopefully other people can deal with it a bit quicker than last time. I don’t know if the referees are brave enough to do something, sometimes they are, sometimes they are not.

“In football when you experience different things and things which can hurt people and human beings, not managers, not players, it doesn’t matter if black, if white, if German, if English, when you want to take the knee to show everyone in the world we are aware of it, but if we’re honest then we’re not aware of it.”

It's not the first time that Doswell has been banned by the FA for a clash with Ebbsfleet.

In December 2021, the FA said Doswell had been handed a six-match ban and was ordered to attend a face-to-face FA education course after a breach of FA rules E3.1 and E3.2.

Details of that incident were released in February 2022 by the FA.