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A Guide to Reporting
Misconduct
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In the past few seasons there has been considerable change in the manner in which Match Officials at all levels of the game can report misconduct of players on the field of play.
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Multi Caution Match Report Forms |
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Referees who caution players during a game were in the past required to submit details of these cautions in duplicate on Standard Misconduct Report Forms. A Multi Caution Match Report Form has been adopted in recent seasons, developed and approved by The Football Association, that permits all cautions from a fixture to be reported to a County Association on one form. |
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Referees will only be required to complete one form and submit it to the appropriate County Association giving details of the fixture, details of the player cautioned and code for the offence that has been committed, i.e. C1 to C7. There is now no longer the requirement to give details of the offence or details of words used in relation to dissent by word or action. Referees are reminded that, in using the Multi Caution Match Report Form, the following guidance needs to be taken into consideration: |
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| 1. |
A Multi Caution Match Report Form is to be used for cautions only. |
| 2. |
Players receiving two cautions in a game must be reported on a Standard Misconduct Report Form and not on a Multi Caution Match Report Form. |
| 3. |
Players sent off or other reports of misconduct need to be reported individually on a Standard Misconduct Report Form. |
| 4. |
A Multi Caution Match Report Form should be sent to the County Association to which a club is “parented” (please see the section below headed “Sending Forms to the Right Place”) showing only the cautions administered to players of that club. |
| 5. |
To assist County Associations in the administration of cautions, please include team details on the Multi Caution Match Report Form i.e. 1st, Reserves, U18, U17 etc. |
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Standard Misconduct Report Forms |
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Use an individual copy of this form to report each incident of: |
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| 1. |
a player receiving two cautions in a game and therefore dismissed from the field of play; |
| 2. |
a player being sent off for any other offence; and |
| 3. |
other misconduct by a player (except for a caution), club official or spectator, etc. |
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Submitting Forms Electronically |
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The Football Association has recognised the technical opportunities available to many referees to use IT whilst not detracting from a system in place for those referees who, for whatever reason, do not use IT as a form of communication. |
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Referees can report misconduct in the following ways (as an alternative to posting traditional hard copies of Standard Misconduct Report Forms): please note that only these approved templates may be used by referees and not any personally designed electronic forms. |
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| 1. |
Microsoft Excel Format which will enable the referee to complete the form electronically and submit it to the appropriate County Association by email. For clubs whose Parent County is London FA, referees should electronically complete the relevant forms and email them to
discipline@londonfa.com. The referee must have Microsoft Excel installed in order for these forms to work. |
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• Multi Caution Match Report Form
(Excel) |
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• Standard Misconduct Form
(Excel) |
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| 2. |
Adobe Acrobat Format which will enable the referee to print, manually fill-in and, for clubs whose Parent County is London FA, submit forms by fax to 020 7610 8370 or by post to London Football Association Limited, 11 Hurlingham Business Park, Sulivan Road,
Fulham, London SW6 3DU. The PDF version of the forms requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. That Reader is a free download from
www.adobe.co.uk: (click on the icon on the lower left hand side that says "Get Adobe Reader"): |
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• Multi Caution Match Report Form
(PDF) |
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• Standard Misconduct Form (PDF) |
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Sending Forms to the Right Place
It is vital that, when match officials report misconduct, they should submit the forms promptly to the correct Association for processing. Not doing so causes significant delays to the disciplinary process and creates additional work for those involved by having to advise where reports should be sent. Major difficulties are also encountered for clubs whose players are liable to suspensions based on fixed dates which are calculated by reference to the date of an offence or on a certain number of games commencing on a date fixed by the offence. Therefore it is essential that, when officiating in a match, referees should be aware of where to send both participating teams' disciplinary reports. With the exception of teams/competitions for which reports should be sent to The Football Association at Soho Square (please refer to the list below), reports should be sent to the County Association to which the club concerned is “parented”. The “parent county” for each club should be shown in the relevant competition handbook but, if further clarification is required, please contact
discipline@londonfa.com for advice.
The Football Association Disciplinary Department at Soho Square (rather than County Associations) deals with teams participating in the following leagues and competitions:-
• FA Premier League (Barclays) - First Team, Reserves and Academy/Youth teams
• The Football League (Coca-Cola) - First Team, Reserves and Academy/Youth teams
• Conference National (Blue Square Premier) - First Team, Reserves and Academy/Youth
• Conference North (Blue Square North) - First team only
• Conference South (Blue Square South) - First team only
• Southern League Premier (British Gas Business) - First team only
• Southern League Div One Midlands (British Gas Business) - First team only
• Southern League Div One South & West (British Gas Business) - First team only
• Northern Premier League Premier (Unibond) - First team only
• Northern Premier League Div One North (Unibond) - First team only
• Northern Premier League Div One South (Unibond) – First team only
• Isthmian League Premier (Ryman) - First team only
• Isthmian League Div One North (Ryman) - First team only
• Isthmian League Div One South (Ryman) - First team only
In addition, The Football Association at Soho Square also deals with offences committed by teams in the leagues listed above who also participate in the following knockout cup competitions:-
• The FA Cup (E.ON)
• The Football League Cup (Carling)
• The FA Trophy (Carlsberg)
• Isthmian League Cup
• Southern Football League Cup (Errea)
• Northern Premier League Challenge Cup (Unibond)
• The Football League Trophy (Johnstones Paints)
• Northern Premier League Chairman’s Cup (Unibond)
• County Senior Cups
• Northern Premier League Presidents Cup (Unibond)
In The FA Youth Cup (E.ON), only FA Premier League, Football League and Conference National clubs are dealt with by The Football Association at Soho Square: all other clubs are dealt with by County Associations.
In the FA Vase (Carlsberg), all disciplinary procedures are dealt with by County Associations. |
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