FA RULES & REGULATIONS

Child safeguarding - behaviour & conduct

All our players/parents commit to following the Club’s & The FA’s rules & regulations, when signing the Club’s Registration Form, which are represented by codes of conduct.

The Codes of Conduct, are more commonly known as the FA’s RESPECT Campaign. Basically this means, NO physical/verbal abuse of players, managers or supporters of either team, and the Referee or Assistant Referees. In other words ‘Treat others, in the same manner, as you wish to be treated’.

The Referee is there to manage the match and deal with all incidents that happen on the pitch, between managers & players. The Referee will report ‘off-pitch’ incidents, and the Club will get fined.

Our teams play in leagues, which require teams to provide a Club Member to act as a contact for off-the pitch problems. If you wish to report anything occurring off the pitch, you should talk to your Team’s Club Member, who for our u12 - u16s teams will be wearing the Orange RESPECT bib.

They can then raise the concern with the opposition Teams Club Member, if required, and hopefully resolve the problem, without the need to involve the Referee, Team Manager or distract anyone’s attention from the match.

If you have any concerns regarding Child Safeguarding or want to report an incident of verbal or physical abuse, you can talk to your Team Manager and contact our Child Welfare Officer - Patrick Foley.

On the pitch - Sins bins new for 2019-20

Temporary Dismissals - otherwise known as ‘sin bins’ - will become mandatory

for matters of dissent across all of grassroots football from the 2019/20 season.

EXAMPLES OF DISSENT

• Shouting at the ref

• Questioning ref’s ability

• Slamming the ball in to the ground

• Sarcastically clapping a decision

Find out more about Sin Bins here (opens PDF)

FA guidance on heading the ball

Updated Feb 2020

The FA have announced updated heading guidance for all age groups between under-six and under-18, in association with the Irish and Scottish FAs.

The updated heading guidance, which will be introduced immediately, will provide grassroots clubs, coaches and players with the recommended heading guidance for training sessions only. The guidance does not make any changes to the way matches are played.

The updated heading guidance includes:

Heading guidance in training for all age groups between under-six and under-18
No heading in training in the foundation phase (primary school children)
Graduated approach to heading training for children in the development phase between under-12 to under-16
Required ball sizes for training and matches for each age group
No changes to heading in matches, taking into consideration the limited number of headers in youth games