Lincolnshire FA has officially released its Discipline Report for the 2023/24 grassroots football season, providing a comprehensive overview of conduct across all levels of the game within the county.

This report sheds light on the standards of behavior exhibited by players, coaches, and spectators, highlighting key trends and statistics in disciplinary actions over the past year. As grassroots football continues to grow, this analysis plays a crucial role in fostering a positive and respectful environment for all involved in the sport.

The result of this report have helped form the newly released Matchday Environment Strategy, introduced into Youth Leagues in Lincolnshire from the 2024/25 season.

The Discipline Report for the 2023/24 season reveals that misconduct charges have remained consistent with the previous 2022/23 season, indicating a consistent level of on-field and off-field disciplinary issues that remains above the national average. The number of these charges proven has marginally increased from 2022/23, by 2.

There has been a concerning increase in the number of abandoned matches, suggesting a rise in incidents severe enough to halt play. This has increased from 24 to 37. This is, in part, a reason for the introduction of the Matchday Environment Strategy - along with a notable increase in spectators entering the field of play uninvited to confront a Match Official. 

There has also been a concerning and notable increase in the number of Serious Cases logged, rising from 102 to 113. The number of Assaults on Match Officials has marginally declined, from 9 to 7, but still remains a notable concern. The number of cases of someone Threatening a Match Official also decreased, from 25 to 18, but are also concerningly high. The number of cases involving Physical Contact of a Match Official increased from 8 to 10.

While the number of Serious Cases involving Assault Participant on Participant decreased from 4 to 0, the number of Discrimination (E3.2/E4) cases heavily increased from 56 to 80. The has been broken down into Discrimination Categories:

In terms of how Lincolnshire aligns with other Counties in our region, such as Sheffield & Hallamshire or Leicestershire, Lincolnshire had the 3rd highest number of Discipline cases in 2023/24, and the 3rd highest number of serious cases last season. 

Looking Ahead To 2024/25

Lincolnshire FA have recently announced a new partnership with Sport Integrity Matters (SIM), who from next season will conduct all disciplinary investigations on behalf of the County FA.

Sport Integrity Matters (SIM) was founded by former FA Head of Judicial Services, Mark Ives, and provides support and independent advice to a number of County FAs on a range of disciplinary and governance matters.

Lincolnshire FA are committed to providing the highest levels of service to our stakeholders, and as such SIM will be working with us to conduct all disciplinary investigations on our behalf. 

The partnership will see SIM carrying out all disciplinary investigations, which will include liaising with the relevant parties to gather evidence. They will then undertake a review of the evidence and provide a recommendation to Lincolnshire FA with regards to the next steps, which may include charge(s) to be raised, no further action or alternative action.

As part of the process, Lincolnshire FA retain overall responsibility over discipline within the County, which includes the final say over whether a charge is to be raised and appointing commissions to hear cases.

Newly introduced for the new season is the Matchday Environment Strategy, launched earlier in the summer by Lincolnshire FA.

In Youth Football from 2024/25, it will be mandatory for every youth match to have a physical respect barrier at the side of the pitch to act as a deterrent to stop spectators from entering field of play.

With it being set out as a mandatory rule, all clubs will be provided with at least one respect barrier ahead of the 2024/25 season free of charge.

The cost of respect barriers has been split between Lincolnshire FA and the respective leagues. All clubs will receive one respect barrier per league that they play in across the county.

Within the 2022/23 and 2023/24 season, the conduct of coaches and spectators accounted for over 50% of all reports received within youth football. The 2023/24 season saw incidents involving spectators rise by 4% with 12 more reports received than the previous season. 

As part of the project, should a spectator breach the respect barrier and confront a participant in the game, the match is to be abandoned by the Match Official. This aims to see a reduction in instances of spectators and officials entering the field of play.

For enquiries regarding the new strategy, please contact Ben Pearce on Ben.Pearce@lincolnshirefa.com. For Media related enquiries, please contact Zack Leader on Zack.Leader@lincolnshirefa.com.

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