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

A remorseful Sunday League player received a 98-day ban after an FA commission found him guilty of abusing a referee - threatening to knock him out.

Tommy Carter’s ban came following the conclusion of a Football Association disciplinary hearing in October where the match official had accused him of threatening behaviour, saying he would “ram the f****** card down my throat”.

The Dartford Athletic player accepted the charge of improper conduct against a match official after the incident in a North Kent Sunday League game against Swanley Rangers.

Mr Carter had previous disciplinary incidents on his record.

He had been sent off for using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures in each of the past two seasons and has two proven misconduct charges to his name.

In the 2019/20 season, he received a misconduct charge for failing to comply with the association as he played while under suspension.

The player’s past record was a mitigating factor - adding seven days to his ban - but the commission gave credit for accepting the charge at the earliest opportunity and that he had shown remorse for his behaviour, which took 28 days off his suspension.

Dartford Athletic’s secretary emailed the FA and said that the player “sincerely apologises for speaking to the referee in the manner that he did and regrets the way he reacted to the initial yellow card which escalated to the red card and this misconduct case being opened.”

The FA reproduced a statement from the referee, who had claimed he had been threatened while in the process of issuing a yellow card to Mr Carter for a foul.

The referee further alleged that the player called him “a bald blind c***” and that “he was going to f*** me up.”

Mr Carter was subsequently red-carded, at which point the referee stated that the player “started to come towards me in an aggressive manner shouting he was going to do me in and knock me out.”

The report said that Mr Carter had to be restrained by fellow team-mates and according to the official “was led away from the situation while still shouting abuse and verbally threatening me.”

The FA’s National Serious Case Panel appointed a commissioner to adjudicate on the case and video evidence was produced but it was too far away to record anything said.

The FA’s standard of proof is that the commission must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that, as per the evidence presented, it was more likely than not that the events occurred as they have been charged.

In addition to the ban, the player was fined £50 and ordered to complete an education programme.