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

The Football Association dismissed fervent denials in the matter of a case of improper conduct which led to bans for two Sunday League players.

The FA Serious Case Panel handed out suspensions to Ryan Rogers and Calvin Campbell of Minster Village FC after it had been claimed by a club member of the opposition that she had been verbally abused.

Mr Rogers was handed an eight-game ban as an additional aggravating factor after his comments were reported to have contained references to gender. Mr Campbell was banned for two games.

Both had the right to appeal the decisions and both had provided statements of their own denying the seriousness of the allegations.

A complaint had been submitted after the Kent Sunday Cup game by a member of Anchorians and investigated by the Kent FA.

Mr Rogers was charged with improper conduct, including foul and abusive language - with a second charge aggravated by way of comments regarding gender, with allegations made by the Anchorians member that she had been told: "Shut the f**k up woman shouldn't be allowed to play football it's a man's sport…They'll let any slag in to watch now” or similar.

Mr Campbell was charged over using abusive language. The FA’s report referred to an allegation that he said “shut your f**king mouth you dumb c**t" or similar.

Both denied the charges.

The Anchorians complainant said in her statement that she felt the referee didn’t have control over the game and mentioned that the linesman ended up being replaced following aggravation.

Her statement said that: “Minster felt the need to shout abuse at their own linesman to which a full-blown argument happened during play to which the linesman had to swap.

"(The referee) never stopped, blew his whistle or stopped the abuse to their linesman which was completely unacceptable behaviour, this then set presidency on how the rest of the match would continue as Minster could clearly see (the referee) didn’t have any control over this game."

Play was also said to have continued when spectators kicked balls onto the pitch, with one player reported to have said: “Dad, get the ball off the f**king pitch.”

A verbal exchange followed between the Anchorians club member and players of Minster with the complainant saying: “I’m not going to allow anyone to speak to me the way they did it was disgusting”.

Play continued, with “challenges becoming more aggressive” in the second half and the statement suggested that the referee was “heavily intimidated.”

There was also mention of a “large team argument between Minster’s personnel” with the statement saying: “This was a whole new level of abusing each other and was very uncomfortable to listen to”.

There were further exchanges at the end of the game with the Anchorians member adding: “I replied ‘Please stop shouting, it's not a free country and no you can’t say things like you did, it's misogynistic and sexist’."

The statement added that: “Minster took full advantage of how inexperienced (the referee) was.”

The referee claimed he didn’t hear what had been said during the game and was told afterwards but added: “One of the Minster players said football is a man’s sport but I didn’t get the name of who it was.”

In a later statement, the referee added: “I have officiated Calvin Campbell and his side for a couple of years and I’ve never had any trouble with him or his players.”

Mr Campbell’s submission stated that: “Comments made such as “oh give it a rest and accept your team are losing” and “shut up will you” were in response “to the hailing abuse shouted to my players during the match”.

He added: “I have made a big thing within the club that we will not tolerate any behaviour seen in any previous seasons nor will we allow players to represent the club in any manner that isn’t professional like or respectful.”

He went on to say in a further statement that: “The Anchorians manager has said that I shouted at her saying “Shut your f**king mouth you dumb c**t”.

"No abusive or offensive language left my mouth whilst I was talking to her.

“I did tell her to “Shut up” in a silly and playful voice because she was shouting onto the pitch at some of my players and was distracting the team from the game.

“I wouldn’t shout abuse at any women and the fact that this allegation has been made within this context, I find it really disrespectful that this image is being portrayed about me.”

He added: “I find these to be highly false as the picture she is painting of my team is that they are aggressive and abusive.

“We did not receive a single card that game, neither did we have any complaints from the official, who has officiated Minster Village several times over the years and we have never had a problem, nor has he had a problem with us”.

Mr Rogers claimed the allegations had been “completely twisted" and denied the complaint, saying: “I could hear that she was shouting at our team for being too physical, so I turned around and asked her what she was shouting about.

“She then continued to shout and hail abuse at the team for being physical, in which I said that it is a man’s Sunday league football game, it can get physical.”

He added: “I definitely did not say that they would let any slag in to watch a game as we tend to have quite a crowd at most of our games, including men and women, so I cannot believe that this allegation has been made against me.”

The applicable standard of proof required for this case is the civil standard of the balance of probability and despite the statements from Mr Rogers and Mr Campdell, denying their wrongdoing, the FA charges were proven.

Rogers had no previous disciplinary issues while Mr Campbell had previously been fined for improper conduct towards a match official.