A football manager found guilty of offences towards a match official has won part of his appeal.

William Hamlin, manager of SCEFL Division 1 side Stansfeld, was found guilty by the Football Association of two offences of improper conduct, which he appealed against. One appeal was allowed but a second charge has been dismissed.

Mr Hamlin was accused of causing a match official to feel that his safety was under threat following a league fixture back in September against Larkfield & New Hythe.

There were further charges regarding improper conduct that were aggravated by the language that was alleged to have been used. Mr Hamlin was accused of saying “it’s the ******* Polish every week” in reference to the referee.

Mr Hamlin entered a not guilty plea to all charges and there was plenty of debate during the Football Association's disciplinary investigation about the meaning of the Polish reference. The standard of proof, as is the norm in such proceedings, was the balance of probability and the manager was deemed by the FA to be guilty of all charges.

The FA have this week disclosed the outcome of Mr Hamlin's appeal.

He had been handed a six-game ban for charge one: FA Rule E3.2 - Improper Conduct - aggravated by a persons Ethnic Origin, Colour, Race, Nationality, Faith, Gender, Gender Reassignment, Sexual Orientation or Disability. His appeal was allowed and suspensions quashed in full.

A second charge of improper conduct, which carried a 140-day ban, was also appealed but the FA dismissed it.

Charges related with a conversation between the Stansfeld manager and match referee Krystian Kaczala after the match.

The referee’s original statement, as worded in the commission's disciplinary report, said: “Mr Hamlin asked me the reason for caution him and when I started to explain that it was for persistent infringement of the laws of the game, namely attempting to influence my decisions and adopting aggressive attitude toward me and AR1 [Assistant referee Josh Williams]. He has been interrupting me and called one of his colleagues stating that he does not understand what I am saying and he need a translator.

"One of his colleagues join the conversation and when I was trying to complete my explanation for the reasons why caution have been issued Mr Hamlin started to shout at me stating that I don't have a clue that I am poor referee and number of other statements I cannot recall.

"At all time he has been pointing his finger at me and coming closer and closer to a point that his finger was no further than 5 cm away from my face.

“When Josh and I tried to ask him to calm down he then started to point finger at Josh and adopted the same intimidating and aggressive attitude toward Josh. At that point I had enough and Josh and I wanted to leave the venue but Mr Hamlin blocked my way and continued verbal abuse and hand gestures until another member of Stansfield [sic] coaching team forced him out of our way saying to Mr Hamlin "time to go before you get yourself into more problems".

“As Mr Hamlin walked away he continued his verbal abuse, publicly saying 'he's a ***** and all'. At that point Josh and I left the venue to our cars.

“Josh and I had a brief chat about the game in general and the incident that just happened, the member of Stansfield [sic] coaching staff films us. They waited together in their car for a couple of minutes. Josh left, they remained parked. I then left 30 seconds later and they then exited the car park, following me closely all the way to the motorway.

“It is also worth noting that at half time Josh alerted me of an incident in the first half where Mr Hamlin allegedly threw his bottle in the dugout and said 'the ******* Polish every week' after one of my minor decisions. Josh apologised as he didn't process this immediately as he was concentrating on ball in play. He soon realised what had been said but it was too late to act during the game.”

On being questioned, the referee said that “I felt for a short moment that my safety was under threat. The same feeling got back when Mr Hamlin have been following my car in very close proximity from the venue to the motorway.”

Mr Williams reported the Polish comment but only at half-time and not when the alleged incident occurred. He went onto say that the Stansfeld manager had been intimidating during their post-match discussion. When questioned about the comment he said he was “about 75% sure of what had been said.”

An email from George Lush, of Stansfeld FC, in response, said: “In regards to the first allegation, this is an extremely serious accusation and one that manager Billy Hamlin refutes. The accusation says that a discriminatory comment was made during the game; if this was the case and it was heard by someone, surely it would have been dealt with at the time?

"Also, if the referee or any match official was of the belief that this comment was made, then why would any match official talk to the manager Billy Hamlin after the game?

"Finally, there was a number of witnesses in and around the dugout that would agree that no discriminatory comment was made. In regards to the second allegation, Billy Hamlin did speak to the referee after the game, the referee and I disagreed in regards to a few matters, but at no point did any threatening behaviour occur.”

A response in the email attributed to Mr Hamlin went on: “During the game, in the second half we were reduced to 10 men for a sin bin to one of our players Dan Parkinson; during this spell we had the opposition taking a throw in by their corner flag. I was shouting my instructions to our players to “box them in, and not let them out easily”; it was at this point that the referee issued a caution to me. When I asked, what was this for, he simply replied “because I wanted to”.

“The Sin Bin for Dan Parkinson, lasted 16 minutes. The referee claimed that he was off the pitch for 16 minutes due to there being a water break in that period; however, when questioned that the water break was not six minutes long. We got another sarcastic response of “because I wanted to”.

“After the game, I went up to the referee and asked when I could talk to him in regards to a few matters during the game and he said I had to wait twenty minutes; at this point I walked away and went into our changing room. After twenty minutes, the referee was in the bar and he was talking to a member of the opposition support staff; I was waiting quietly and the referee could clearly see me and he then just turned his back to me. When I asked why was I booked, he responded “I don’t want to speak to you in the bar” and at this point I went back to area where Stansfeld were sitting.

“A few minutes went by and the referee came over to me and said “me and you outside for a chat”; this could have probably been worded more appropriately as it got a few laughs. We then went and stood just outside an exit from the club house. I then asked him again on why did he book me? And he said that I was trying to influence his decisions too much. When speaking to the referee, one of the assistants was there along with our matchday administrator Danny Moore who was there as a witness.

“When I asked if we could record the conversation, the referee reacted badly and pushed me to leave the conversation. As I was putting our equipment in the car, there was an observer/assessor who was getting into his car; I asked him what he thought of the game. When I asked him, do you know what I got booked for? He replied “you have nothing to worry about, it’s all in here.” As he pointed to his folder; it would be interesting to get his account of the game and any potential matters.”

Mr Hamlin denied being too close to the referee and pointing aggressively and that after the game “everyone left in convoy, taking the same route along a single-track road with no opportunity to overtake and did not tailgate or drive too close.”

His statement to the FA said that Polish is a word well known in his circles as “polish” meaning rubbish and was not a reference to nationality. He also said he didn’t know the nationality of the referee but thought he may be Spanish.

The commission's disciplinary report noted that the referee and assistant could have handled the situation better in regard to the first charge. In regard to the term Polish being a word meaning "rubbish" that was described as not credible, according to the commission.

Mr Hamlin has previously had six charges against him for improper conduction against a match official in the 2018/19 season, which included threatening and/or abusive language and/or behaviour. There was a further charge of improper conduct against a match official in 17/18.