Former Glasshoughton Welfare manager Rob Hunter was sent from his dugout last November by the referee of the game with Armthorpe. No charge was ever brought.
Please help us reach 350 ‘likes’ on our Facebook page. Click HERE to ‘like’ the page.
The announcement earlier this week that from August 9th, managers in the NCEL who are sent off can no longer ‘sit in the stands’ will have sent a shiver down the spines of some of them.
Dismissed managers have three options: to sit in either the dressing rooms or social club or to go home there and then early.
Some joked saying that they had ‘reserved seats in the bar’, but deep down, NCEL managers and coaches know they will have to reign their passions in from the word go in August.
Discipline from the touchline to the playing field will improve from it’s already good level.
However, the directive could head for dangerous ground and spark an epidemic of manager sendings-off.
There is a very real danger that referees could misuse the power.
Managers and coaches berate the officials in almost NCEL game – rightly or wrongly it’s part of the game – but very few in the NCEL cross the line.
The ability to remove a manager from the ground is an attractive proposition for a referee who doesn’t want any aggro on a given day.
Every referee has a different level of tolerance – with some of them in the NCEL, managers could be removed inside the opening ten minutes of a game.
Referees could potentially use the directive to dismiss a manager for the slightest remark.
The rule is not a new one. The Conference have been using it very successfully for many years without much fuss since it’s first year.
But, there have been times when the directive has been abused.
During the 2009-10 season, a manager of a West Yorkshire club was sent off from his dugout for, as the referee, now a Football League assistant, put it in his report “sarcastically hand-clapping me”.
No foul language was used and quite correctly no FA charge was brought.
But, that manager was removed from his dugout and had to follow the Conference directive – now implemented by the NCEL.
Referees at levels five and six have to understand the consequences of using this directive and have to apply it correctly because the last thing that the league needs is embarrassing headlines.
They have to be 100% right when dismissing a manager and confident that a charge will issued by the relevant County FA.
Get it wrong and there will be a lot of angry clubs out there and the argument over a dismissal will go on for longer than it takes for a referee to leave the pitch to heckling.