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 official running the line during a youth match was subjected to a torrent of foul-mouth abuse by a watching dad.

Upchurch Colts claimed the parent was deeply apologetic over the verbal abuse of an assistant referee during an under-18 fixture. The club was fined £150 and warned as to their future conduct.

The Kent FA received a complaint from Anchorians FC over the treatment of their club member who submitted a report stating that abuse started after an offside decision.

The complainant said: “A member of the crowd started shouting at me calling me a cheat, a p***k and a c***,” which continued until the end of the match.”

Upchurch Colts faced two FA charges over the incident and a member of the National Serious Case Panel was appointed to adjudicate.

The disciplinary report was issued with a summary of principal submissions provided, including that of the person claiming to have been abused.

That statement added: “As the final whistle went he came up to me again shouting abuse at me and shaking his finger in my face so that it was about an inch from my nose.”

The abuse was then alleged to have continued in the car park.

“This man carried on shouting abuse at me calling me a p***k and a c*** and that I ruin kids’ football,” the statement continued.

“I do not think this behaviour is acceptable at any football match let alone a kids’ football match.”

The statement added: “All the hard work we are putting into encouraging and supporting referees to ensure we have enough to officiate our games is becoming harder and harder.

“Referees, and young officials in particular, won’t carry on officiating if receiving abuse and intimidation like this and the main reason why we are seeing declining numbers of match officials across the country.”

A statement was provided by someone witnessing the incident who tried to calm the situation down.

It stated: “I explained to the man that [redacted] is not the sort of person to cheat, to which he told me to button it in a threatening manner.”

The statement confirmed the abuse continued in the car park “with the same intimidating, aggressive behaviour.

“I find this behaviour appalling, where spectators abuse officials who give their time for nothing so the boys can play football. It needs stamping out.”

Upchurch coaches initially said they were unable to identify the spectator and “being over the other side of the pitch they didn’t hear anything personally.”

The club added: “One of the managers did speak to the linesman after the game and he did mention comments had been made to him about being a cheat but nothing severe.”

A club official, in responding to the charge, later said that after further investigation they had identified the individual as a dad “who had unusually come straight from work.”

Parents had been spoken to and the club’s submission said: “A few of our parents mentioned that they heard a few raised voices towards the end of the game but don’t remember hearing anything that they would deem as aggressive or abusive.”

The club said the parent who had allegedly abused the official accepted their part in the incident and was “deeply apologetic and strongly regrets getting into an argument” and that “he also admits to probably getting a little caught up in a tense game of football but he just felt very strongly that the linesman was cheating and couldn’t understand why he was doing this.”

The confrontation in the car park was “strongly refuted” by the parent.

Upchurch Colts said the parent was new to the group and had “been a positive influence” and felt “this behaviour to be out of character.”

Further contact from Upchurch added that: “We do not condone this sort of behavior and have spoken to the management team who in fairness to them have been very apologetic over this incident.”

The allegation of abusive language and threatening language/behaviour towards the linesman of the opposition team was accepted by the club and the commission was satisfied the threshold for the charge had been met.

Upchurch Colts FC have 11 teams and their five-year offence history showed no disciplinary action of any nature prior to season 2022/23 season. The early acceptance of the charge was also noted and the decision was subject to a right of appeal.