Football in clampdown on discipline
The Football Association today announced a radical clampdown on player discipline.
FA chief executive Mark Palios and former player Brendon Batson, manager of the project, revealed the changes after talks with the PFA, Premier League, and Football League.
The pilot scheme, which will be under constant review, begins at the start of next season. Players who are sent off in Saturday and Sunday matches, begin their suspensions for the next game. Under present regulations suspensions for red cards and the accumulation of yellow cards, begin after 14 days. The FA hope this will deal with criticisms about delays.
The disciplinary code review dealt with three main categories. The first is for automatic suspensions for incidents seen and dealt with by the referee. Under the new code, bans will come into effect immediately unless a claim for wrongful dismissal is lodged. In that case the player or their club must lodge their claim by midday on the next working day. All claims will be heard within four working days of a fixture.
In the case of incidents not seen by the referee the procedure will be similar. Charges will be issued on the second working day and the case heard by a disciplinary commission before the end of the week. Any suspension will start immediately following the hearing.
Appeals against suspensions will only be permitted if the ban exceeds three matches and all cases should be settled within 28 days.
With incidents seen by the referee but beyond his jurisdiction, for example tunnel incidents, the procedure will again be similar with requests for a personal hearing lodged by midday the following day. The player has two working days to accept or deny the charge with personal hearings scheduled for Tuesdays or Thursdays.
More complex cases, including doping and child protection, will take longer but the disciplinary commission will control the speed of the process. The new procedures meet FIFA requirements.
Palios said: "We aim to speed up the process generally. We will see how we go and change things if necessary."
