Discrimination in Lincolnshire grassroots football 'heavily increased' in last year
A new report published by the Lincolnshire FA has revealed the negative side of grassroots football over the last season. The 2023/24 discipline report shows "concerning" increases in the number of abandoned matches and discrimination cases.
The number of abandoned matches has increased from 24 to 37, suggesting a rise in incidents severe enough to halt play. This coincides with a notable increase in spectators entering the field of play to confront a match official.
In addition, the number of 'serious cases' logged rose from 102 to 113, including discrimination. The report states that the number of discrimination cases heavily increased from 56 to 80 in the 2023/24 season.
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The number of discrimination cases is broken down as follows:
Discrimination Category | Number of Cases 23/24 |
Sexual Orientation | 31 |
Race | 19 |
Disability | 11 |
Gender | 9 |
Nationality | 5 |
Colour | 4 |
Ethnic Origin | 1 |
One case saw an under 13s player suspended for a number of games after making a racist slur towards an opponent. Lincolnshire FA has recently announced a new partnership with Sport Integrity Matters (SIM), which from next season will conduct all disciplinary investigations on behalf of the County FA. A spokesperson for Lincolnshire FA said: "The Discipline Report we recently submitted tells a tale of the negative side of the grassroots game in our area over the last two seasons.
"It’s important to remember that thousands of games occur across our region without any issues at all and are conducted in a positive manner, and are everything we all like to see from football at this level. However, there are still incidents of poor behaviour that we have to address."
Within the 2022/23 and 2023/24 season, the conduct of coaches and spectators accounted for over 50 per cent of all reports received within youth football. The 2023/24 season saw incidents involving spectators rise by four per cent with 12 more reports received than the previous season.
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.
See below for Lincolnshire FA's full statement.