FA Respect & Behaviour Group Recommendations

[Guest]

Cornwall FA Respect and Behaviour Recommendations and Good Practise

In April 2016 the Respect and Behaviour working group from Cornwall FA released a number of recommendations to be implemented throughout the 2016-17 season. One of these recommendations was pre-season meetings where referees, clubs and leagues were invited to discuss their view of behaviour and what could be done across the game to improve standards.

Throughout pre-season with the support of local leagues several of these meetings took place, and over 200 grassroots participants attended. There were plenty of opinions and ideas from managers, players, club officials, league officials and referees. A summary of the issues and suggested interventions is outlined below.

Understanding the Laws of The Game

There was a general consensus that there was a lack of understanding of the laws of game, especially from players and this led to frustration and confusion. Whilst FA LAW CHANGE information is available online, it was agreed that Cornwall FA could do more to raise awareness of The Laws and especially the recent changes. Therefore Cornwall FA will be working with clubs to create a manager’s and player’s mailing list thus taking the pressure off club secretaries. With social media and club websites now playing such a significant role in communication, many managers and players thought this would be the best method of conveying essential law change information. Also see next item below.

Club Presentations

Cornwall FA and referees are willing to work with local clubs to hold evenings to try and educate and raise awareness of the laws of the game. There is an interactive quiz which is delivered to clubs and is based on the laws of the game. This has been run at a few clubs as a trial and has been extremely successful. Instead of receiving a presentation on powerpoint it is encourages discussion and engagement. Any clubs who wish for this to be delivered can contact Richard Pallot at Cornwall FA 01208 269010 or email Richard.pallot@cornwallfa.com

Ambassador Referees visiting Clubs

There was a discussion over players having the opportunity to talk to referees and ask questions, not just on the laws of the game but on other topics. It was suggested by several referees that they would like to attend club training sessions and work with the players on a practical basis. The referees would be local to the club. Attending presentations or workshops is not always easy so engaging with players at training is a positive step. It was agreed that messages and opinions delivered by the referees would need to be consistent so Cornwall FA will be working with the referees who are happy to visit clubs and the Referees Committee to agree on the format and content. . Referees and clubs who are interested in this please contact Richard Pallot at Cornwall FA on 01208 269010 or email Richard.pallot@cornwallfa.com

Rewarding Positive behaviour

We are now welcoming nominations for respect club and player of the month. There are so many positives in football and we want to focus on these and draw attention to those who promote the game and respect, maybe without even realising it. If you want to nominate a club or an individual who demonstrate good sportsmanship then email Richard Pallot at Cornwall FA 01208 269010 or email Richard.pallot@cornwallfa.com winning clubs will receive 10 brand new Nike Footballs and Individuals will get a £30 voucher for Pro-Direct Soccer.

We also talked about investigating the use of ‘Respect’ marks by Referees on Full Time and Cornwall FA will discuss this with the FA IT section to determine feasibility.

Publicising Misconduct Charges and Results

Cornwall FA has already started publishing Misconduct charges and results of hearings through the press and Cornwall FA website. To take this one step further it was suggested that there are discipline tables published for each league in Cornwall highlighting all charges and cards received by clubs. Cornwall FA will work with the leagues to facilitate this and highlight the clubs with good and poor discipline.

Expectations about Consistency

The most difficult and grey area to address was ‘referee consistency’. Whilst one referee may see a foul one way another may see it differently and from a different angle. Players and managers will also have opinions on situations and on many decisions not everyone will agree. So this is as much about managing club / manager / player expectations as it is about ‘consistency’ and the Laws of the Game initiatives (see above) should help with this. What was accepted was that it was reasonable for clubs to expect consistency by an individual referee over 90 minutes, subject to variations that reflected the ‘temperature’ of the game.

Dealing with Dissent and Offensive, Insulting or Abusive Language/gestures

Whilst decisions on tackles and interpretations on certain aspects of the laws of the game may differ, one area where consistency MUST be expected is in the treatment of DISSENT and OFFENSIVE, INSULTING or ABUSIVE language/ gestures. The common comment from clubs was that “one week one referee would take no action and another there would be loads of cards!!” This is clearly an issue that must be addressed and will be the subject of debate with the referees Committee to ensure that referees are reminded of the explicit guidance on handling this type of misconduct and apply this effectively. Referees failing to do this are letting themselves and their refereeing colleagues down

Communication

In addition to consistency the other important feedback from players, managers and referees was the importance of communication.

Build up to the match
In the week leading up to the match clubs should be contacting referees with details of the fixture. This practise is not always followed and there is room for improvement . Likewise referees are expected to acknowledge confirmation of matches. The responsibility of both clubs and referees is explained in detail on the CCFA Referees Appointments page (see Appointments Process available from http://www.cornwallfa.com/…/referee-appointments-and-fixtur… )

Pre-match
On the day of the game a member of the club should greet the referee and make them feel welcome. Also referees need to make an effort to engage and work with the clubs on a match-day prior to kick off. This is not in the form of a meeting to discuss what will or won’t be tolerated in terms of behaviour. Nor how the referee intends to officiate the game, but more as an effort to start the match-day on the right foot.

In Match
What was very clear was that players and managers accept referees will make mistakes, what frustrates them is the lack of communication in explaining decisions. Even if a player disagrees with a decision he will be more likely to accept it if the referee explains the reasons behind the decision he has made. Obviously if a player wants clarification on decisions during a match it needs to be done in the correct manner.

Post-match
Referees do not mind answering questions or discussing their decisions post match. We are recommending that this should not happen until after at least a minimum of 15 minutes has passed after the game, especially where there is a contentious issue. Such discussions should be conducted with respect and Referees will not be expected tolerate discussions that are conducted in a hostile way. Clubs are reminded that referees retain the authority to report misconduct from club officials where post-match discussions end up being confrontational.

 

Marking Scheme for Referees – Guidance and Transparency

We will be circulating a guide to all clubs on marking referees so that this aspect of consistency by clubs can be improved
If a club is of the opinion a referee’s performance warrants a mark of 60 or lower then a report needs to be submitted. These reports are vital and allow Cornwall FA and the referee training team the opportunity to work with referees to secure any necessary improvements. We appreciate that currently those involved do not see the process that is followed when they send in the reports and feel it is not a productive use of their time. Cornwall FA accepts that a more transparent and equitable process needs to be implemented so as to improve feedback to clubs and referees on action taken (or not taken) with regard to these reports.

Referees Marking Clubs

We will be working with leagues to develop a system so referees can mark clubs as well and feedback and on behaviour, attitude and sportsmanship, this will help us identify clubs we can work with and support.

 

Social Media

More needs to be done to raise awareness of misuse of social media and the ramifications for participants in football. Social media and websites are a wonderful communication tool but more education is needed on what is and isn’t acceptable and how any misuse will be dealt with.

 

Cornwall FA Website

Significant work will be undertaken on the Cornwall FA website to make all this information more easily accessible so clubs and players nowhere to go to access documents on the laws of the game, referees marking guides and the list of charges as well as other information discussed within this document .

Monitoring Games

For the past 12 months Cornwall FA council members have been visiting grounds and monitoring games at all levels of football within Cornwall. Their feedback was one of the initial drivers behind this Respect and behaviour project. They will continue to visit clubs on an ad hoc basis and report back to the Governance Manager. Feedback will be given to clubs and referees on these neutral and unbiased reports, we are hoping that following the meetings and recommendations there will be an improvement in standards and behaviour.

The Future

The Respect and Behaviour Working Group will be meeting quarterly to review the success and failures of the initial recommendations from April 2016 and the guidance issued in this documents. The next meeting will be in December 2016 to reviewthe impact of our work so far. We will be continuously looking for new ideas and initiatives and will publish the results of our review to all concerned and welcome feedback and development of good practice over time.
The group is still looking for more people passionate about Cornish football and if you feel you could add a different perspective or have a positive impact on the group then please contact Richard Pallot at Cornwall FA on 01208 269010 or email richard.pallot@cornwallfa.com

[ECPL]

Looks great on paper but is it not time that referees cut out the ranting and raving from the dug outs and players.    Yet this still goes on with foul and intimidating language and outright vitriol being aimed at not only the man in the middle but his linesmen as well.  Cut out that bad behavior and you will cut out a lot of the players bad behavior.  Tackle the problem at source and this will solve most of the problems and it is up to individual county associations to back up the match officials.  You can have managers and players sitting around nodding their heads in agreement at meetings only to see them forget it as soon as they go out of the door and the very next time there is anything contentious they revert to type.   How often do you see referees turn a deaf ear to blatant harassment and not dealing with the problem at source.  It is not as if we play in front of many thousands of fans where comments are not heard.    In our local game the foul language can be heard in all points of the ground so come on referees DO YOUR JOBS.  It will be better inn the long run for yourselves and officiating can once again be a rewarding experience.   

[Tommy Matthews]

It was mentioned at the initial meeting that the players take direction from the dugouts. If those in the dugouts are acting in a disrespectful manner then it's no surprise that the players will do the same.

Managers must be the ones showing how it's done and cannot expect their players to behave if they don't do it themselves.

Monkey see, monkey do.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Tommy Matthews said:

It was mentioned at the initial meeting that the players take direction from the dugouts. If those in the dugouts are acting in a disrespectful manner then it's no surprise that the players will do the same.

Managers must be the ones showing how it's done and cannot expect their players to behave if they don't do it themselves.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Is "coaching" (from the sidelines) still part of the LOAF and a bookable offence?

Monkey see, monkey do is also obvious of lower league players copying the 'professional' attitudes and traits.

[bighairydave]

19 minutes ago, Willow Tree said:

Is "coaching" (from the sidelines) still part of the LOAF and a bookable offence?

Monkey see, monkey do is also obvious of lower league players copying the 'professional' attitudes and traits.

What do you mean by coaching as a bookable offence?

 

Many times supporters hear this language but how many times does this occur while the game comtinues and the referee cannot actually see the perpetrators?

[Guest]

The research I have done goes back to the 1950s and I read somewhere that a manager (possibly Dave Wadd) was booked (possibly by Bill Pearce) for 'coaching from the sidelines'. In all my years of watching football, managers, coaches and even physios and subs have coached/shouted instructions without anything being done so it might be an archaic law that has (rightly) been quashed over time.

[bighairydave]

Ok, I know it is discouraged that coaching while being an assistant referee.

[Tommy Matthews]

It's the job of the manager or coach to issue instructions and advice from the dugout. It's interesting to stand near those dugouts and listen to those people and what they say. Some are measured and analyse the game and make suitable changes where appropriate while others spit vitriol possibly due to their lack of knowledge and apportion blame on everyone to mask their inadequacy.