The number of allegations of serious offences against grassroots football match officials increased slightly last season compared to 2021-22, figures show.
There were 1,451 allegations of serious offences against a match official last season, an increase of 1% on the prior campaign where 1,430 offences were recorded, the Football Association (FA) data reveals.
The figures, contained in the FA’s Annual Grassroots Disciplinary Review which is being published on Tuesday, also show 72 allegations of an actual or attempted assault were made in 2022-23.
Of those, 53 led to charges being brought and 42 were proven, with 11 not proven on the balance of probabilities due to insufficient evidence.
To assist in improving conviction rates even further, the FA has now extended a trial using body cameras in grassroots football to eight county associations to act as a deterrent against abuse towards match officials.
The FA said earlier this month that referees have faced no instances of abuse in around 500 matches since the trial began in February.
In addition to the 72 assaults or attempted assaults recorded in the disciplinary review, there were 391 allegations of physical contact or attempted physical contact and 988 allegations relating to threatening a match official.
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The review marks the first time the FA has collated data on disciplinary matters from the grassroots game.
Overall, there were 3,636 allegations of serious misconduct – a 9% increase on the previous season – with 82% of charges being proven.
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There was also a 10% increase in the number of allegations of discrimination, with the average sanction for proven charges being a seven-match suspension.
Alongside the body camera trials, the FA has also introduced points deductions and ground closures for teams involved in serious or repeat instances of misconduct.
The FA has also launched its Enough Is Enough campaign to raise awareness of discriminatory behaviour in the grassroots game and how to report it when it occurs.
The game’s national governing body has also launched a joint action plan alongside Kick It Out, the anti-discrimination charity, to proactively tackle incidents of discrimination and serious misconduct in grassroots football.
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Turkey referee attack: What happened?
“Providing this level of transparency is really important to us so that everyone can have a better understanding of the levels of serious misconduct across the game,” the FA’s senior discipline manager Fraser Williamson said.
“It also makes clear that we take all allegations of this nature very seriously and that we will take action against offenders.
“We know that incidents of serious misconduct are on the rise across the grassroots game, however we’re clear that this will not be tolerated and that perpetrators will face consequences.
“We’ve recently implemented a number of interventions across our game to help improve the culture and behaviour of participants, both on the pitch and on the sidelines, and we will continue to do all we can to ensure our game is safe and welcoming for all.”
Participant behaviour towards referees is in the spotlight following an attack on a referee in Turkey last week.
Halil Umut Meler was punched by the president of MKE Ankaragucu, Faruk Koca, at the end of a match on 11 December.
Koca was arrested over the incident and has since been issued with a permanent ban by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF).
Meanwhile, Manchester City were fined £120,000 by an independent regulatory commission on Monday after their players surrounded referee Simon Hooper during their Premier League match against Tottenham on 3 December.
The man who served 14 years in jail for the murder of schoolboy Jimmy Mizen has been recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions.
It follows reporting in The Sun newspaper that Jake Fahri, 35, was a drill rapper releasing music under the name TEN, who conceals his identity with a balaclava, and was played on BBC 1Xtra.
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with Jimmy Mizen’s family who deserve better than to see their son’s murderer shamelessly boasting about his violent crime.”
Jimmy’s father Barry told Sky News: “We’re not gloating or anything, in a way it’s quite sad.”
His son bled to death after Fahri threw an oven dish at him in a south London bakery on 10 May 2008.
The dish shattered on his chin and severed an artery in the schoolboy’s neck.
Fahri was 19 when he was given a life sentence in 2009 with a minimum term of 14 years and was released on licence in June 2023.
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His music was played on BBC 1Xtra less than 18 months later, the Sun reported, adding that DJ Theo Johnson named him an “up-and-coming star”.
Jimmy’s father earlier said he and his wife Margaret were “stunned into silence” when they were told about Fahri’s music, which often features violent themes.
In one song, which appears to reference Jimmy’s death, he raps about “sharpening” a blade.
“Judge took a look at me, before the trial even started he already knows he’s gonna throw the book at me,” the lyrics say.
Another track includes the lines: “See a man’s soul fly from his eyes and his breath gone… I wanted more, it made it less wrong. Seeing blood spilled same floor he was left on.”
The BBC has said the artist’s tracks do not feature on any BBC playlists, and that a track which appeared to reference Jimmy’s death had never been played on its channels.
A spokesman for the broadcaster added there were “no further plans to play his music”, adding: “We were not aware of his background and we in no way condone his actions.”
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “All offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions. As this case shows, we will recall them to prison if they break the rules.”
Jimmy’s parents founded the Mizen Foundation after their son’s death. The charity helps young people in London who are escaping violence.
Mr Mizen said: “It appears that if he’s been recalled to prison, he must’ve breached his licence conditions
The man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann won’t face any charges in the foreseeable future, a prosecutor has told Sky News.
German drifter Christian B, who cannot be fully identified under his country’s privacy law, is expected to be freed from an unrelated jail sentence this year while police in three countries continue to search for evidence against him.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: “There is currently no prospect of an indictment in the Maddie case.
“As things stand, the accused Christian B’s imprisonment will end in early September.”
Madeleine, aged three, was asleep with her younger twin siblings in the family’s Portuguese rented holiday apartment before mother Kate discovered her missing at around 10pm on 3 May, 2007.
Her parents were dining nearby on the complex with friends and taking turns to check on all their sleeping children every half an hour.
Madeleine’s disappearance has become the world’s most mysterious missing child case.
Philipp Marquort, one of Christian B’s defence lawyers, welcomed the prosecutor’s pessimism about bringing charges.
He said: “This confirms the suspicions that we have repeatedly expressed, namely that there is no reliable evidence against our client.
“We regret that we have not yet been granted access to the investigation files. We have not yet been able to effectively counter the public prejudice arising from statements made by the prosecutor’s office.”
Christian B, 47, is in jail and coming to the end of his sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz, the Portuguese resort where Madeleine disappeared.
In October, he was acquitted on a series of rape and indecent assault charges after a non-jury trial in Germany, in which several references were made to his status as the main suspect in the Madeleine case.
The prosecutor said he was awaiting the court’s written judgment before launching an appeal against the acquittal. He believes the trial judges were biased against the prosecution.
If successful, he could apply for a new arrest warrant for Christian B to keep him in custody until a retrial with new judges.
He said: “We hope that the Federal Court of Justice will decide before the end of the accused’s imprisonment. If the Federal Court follows our legal opinion, we could apply for a new arrest warrant for the accused’s offences, so that the accused would then remain in custody beyond September 2025.
Mr Marquort said the defence team would oppose the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal.
Prosecutor Mr Wolters has said in the past that he believes Madeleine is dead and that Christian B was responsible for her death. The suspect denies any involvement.
The case against Christian B is purely circumstantial; he’s alleged to have confessed to a friend that he abducted Madeleine, he has convictions for sex crimes against children, he was living in the area at the time, his mobile phone was close by when the young girl vanished and he re-registered one of his vehicles the next day.
The prosecutor won’t say what evidence he has to convince him Madeleine is dead, but he admitted he is still trying to find forensic evidence to link Christian B to the girl.
Jim Gamble, former head of the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, said he had expected the prosecutor to charge Christian B soon.
“He’s implied the whole way through that he has something more than the public are aware of,” he said.
“He’s made fairly definitive statements about whether Madeleine is alive or dead so you would expect their strategy to have been to charge him sooner rather than later.
“From what he’s said today I wonder if we’re witnessing the re-positioning of something to manage the disappointment that’ll come.”
Mr Wolters, who is based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, is investigating the case with the help of Portuguese police and detectives from Scotland Yard.
An investigation, led by the Surrey and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, is under way and inquiries remain ongoing, police said.
Senior Investigating Officer DCI Kimball Edey said specialist officers “are working around the clock to gather as much information as possible,” and that the force’s “thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims at this unbelievably difficult time”.