Fed up with poor behaviour? This is your chance to have a big say!

[Dave Deacon]

The CCFA have this morning announced an idea towards improving behaviour in the local game. 

"With behaviour and Respect a hot topic in football and especially Cornish football at the moment Cornwall FA are looking for people to sit on a working party looking at ways poor behaviour can be realistically addressed.

We are looking to work with club officials/players/referees/managers/volunteers/league officials involved in the game to discuss several aspects of behaviour and the discipline process

These include but are not limited to

•             Preventative measures

•             CCFA responsibilities

•             Referee responsibilities

•             Club responsibilities

•             League Responsibilities

•             Player responsibilities

•             Manager and coach responsibilities

•             Spectator behaviour

•             Available sanctions

It is important to have opinions from people involved in a wide variety of football roles so that we can look at all of the issues and look at all points of view. It is also a great opportunity to sit down with County representatives and find out more about the discipline process.

It is a shared responsibility to ensure football is played in a safe environment where people feel comfortable and it is hoped that this working party will identify the problem areas and look at how these can be dealt with all levels of the game in the County.

If you are interested in sitting on this working party or would like more information please contact Cornwall FA governance manager Richard Pallot by email richard.pallot@cornwallfa.com or phone 01208 262989.

 

Richard Pallot

Governance Manager, Cornwall Football Association Limited"

PS : 

I'm pleased to add that as it seems a few people will ask questions on this forum rather than directly to Richard, he is happy to answer anything sensible via me. This will give him a chance to answer any valid points raised.

Many thanks to Richard for offering to do this, but as I always suggest, if you have a query concerning the CCFA, it's best to contact them direct.

[Richard Rundle]

My point of view is that very little will be able to be done locally if the FA at Wembley isn't 100% on board. I watch football across the country and at all levels from the pro game down to Duchy Division Five and my take is that behaviour in Cornwall is as good, if not better, than most of the rest of the country. Sure you will get isolated instances but on the whole I don't think we're in too bad of a boat. However, having said that of course there is room for improvement.

As for on-field behaviour, it comes from the top of the game. While Premier League teams are seen as allowed to get away with every trick in the book, this inevitably filters down to "our" levels. Refs have tools at their disposal, but how many times do you hear players swearing directly at officials, or crowding around the men in black every time a free kick is awarded against them, and no disciplinary action is taken? If a yellow card or two is brandished early on and the CCFA (and the FA) back the officials up, perhaps things will change. But I think we have what we have and this is seen as acceptable.

As for the Respect campaign, all very well in theory but what a waste of time all these handshakes etc. are. This reached a new level of farce-ness (if that was such a word) at the Junior Cup game midweek, the players were out and ready to go but the ref made them go back to the changing room so that they could come out with him at the head of affairs and have the pointless handshake routine. If a club delayed the kick-off for 5 minutes I'm sure they would get reported...

Managers behaviour in Cornwall also appears to be about par for the course. A few gobby ones gives the rest of them a bad name. Stepping one metre out of the technical area appears to be more cracked down on than verbal abuse. Club linesman also seem to do a decent job most of the time too - I've only seen one game (and that was a few years ago) when the bias of both linesmen was so bad the referee just ignored them. The only major problem in this area is those who are disinterested during play.

I'll probably have a few more random thoughts to add later