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 ill-tempered Kent Youth League match was abandoned after the referee accused one of the coaches of threatening behaviour - leading to a lengthy ban.

Ian O’Sullivan stood down from his coaching role with Margate under-16s after being found guilty of improper conduct towards a match official during their game against Ramsgate in October.

A Football Association investigation concluded that Mr O’Sullivan had acted inappropriately towards the referee after being accused of using insulting and threatening language. He accepted the charge and was handed a 147-day suspension.

The FA disciplinary report included arguments and accusations from both teams and painted a picture of a badly-tempered match, with counter-claims of abuse from watching parents and players.

The referee alleged that Mr O’Sullivan told him: “I’ll be waiting for you” which the official took as a threat and abandoned the game.

O’Sullivan accepted the charge but the decision is subject to appeal, which the FA’s report suggested was likely.

The FA disciplinary commission noted two previous misconduct charges as an aggravating factor along with Mr O’Sullivan’s position as a role model for young players.

The match official’s extraordinary incident report alleged that Mr O’Sullivan refused to leave the field of play after tempers flared following a challenge.

The referee said that the coach had told him he was “a f***** c***, s*** ref, cheater and proceeded to say I’ll be waiting for you, which I took as a threat.”

He added that “the anger he showed was not normal behaviour.”

The referee later emailed to say that he remained “shaken after the events” and in a further correspondence stated that he wanted to “step down from the promotion scheme.”

There was a lengthy statement from a Ramsgate team official who said they hadn’t heard the threats but reported that Mr O’Sullivan had shouted to the referee: “You’re a f***** disgrace,” said to be in response to a Margate player being booked for a challenge.

The statement added that they felt Mr O’Sullivan’s questioning of the official throughout was excessive.

There had also been an exchange of words between Mr O’Sullivan and opposing coaches.

Ramsgate were winning the match but accepted the decision to abandon the game saying: “Although annoying for the players and everyone else involved especially as we were winning, a correct decision was made if the ref felt in such danger.”

Margate Youth’s statement included comments from Mr O’Sullivan who at the time believed the match was abandoned because of the abuse he was getting from the Ramsgate parents "as they was (sic) all asked to go to the other end of the field to allow the ref to exit.

“At no point did I abuse or threaten him so he is a liar…

He added: “There were a number of events that happened during this game, whereby Ramsgate parents were abusive towards some of the Margate players.”

Mr O’Sullivan made reference to several incidents in the game that he was frustrated by, including late tackles, one of which resulted in a bad injury and that tempers were running high.

He accused one Ramsgate parent of saying they “are going to fill us in”.

In his statement, he said: “My players (were)...being sworn at and abused by Ramsgate parents. My captain was trying to speak to the ref regarding these matters and was told to shut up by the ref.”

He said he walked onto the pitch to “defuse the situation” after a collision between his player and the goalkeeper, who had come off worse, leading to pushing and shoving. Mr O’Sullivan said he feared for his players’ safety but was sent off by the official.

He added: “My main concern was the welfare and safety of the kids.

“Children’s welfare and safety is above anything else and I felt that the ref didn’t have this in mind.”

He added that he felt the “ref wasn’t experienced enough and unbiased enough to be in charge” of the game.

Further statements from Margate alleged that the Ramsgate goalkeeper had “threatened to break another player’s legs” and that the Ramsgate parents’ behaviour towards the children was “vile”.

O’Sullivan stepped away from the club and his role as coach following the incident.

The FA’s applicable standard of proof required for the case is the civil standard of the balance of probability and that the commission would be satisfied that an event was more likely than not to have happened.

The Commission was satisfied that there was use of threatening language and with the referee stating the actions of Mr O’Sullivan had caused him to feel threatened.