A football league in
the north-east and Cumbria is to be the first in England to ban
players swearing.
Referees in the Arngrove
Northern League (ANL) second division will show an immediate red
card to any players using foul language from next
season.
The Football Association
sanctioned scheme, which also covers managers and team officials,
could be extended to other leagues if successful.
Referees will enforce the ban
by rigidly applying existing laws.
ANL chairman Mike Amos said:
"I hope it will be a first step towards reclaiming the game from
the foul mouthed yobs who increasingly are driving good people -
spectators, volunteers and match officials - away from
football.
"I'm delighted that the FA has
agreed to back us - it could be a momentous day in the history of
non-league football.
"There's still a long way to
go and a lot to be done, but the tide of verbal sewage with which
paying spectators are greeted could at last be about to
turn."
He said the league was the
first in the county to be given FA permission to advise match
officials on how to apply the laws of the game.
FA referees' committee
chairman Ray Lewis, himself a former top referee, said that the
experiment fitted well with the FA's Respect scheme, which is being
trailed in junior football.
He said: "The Northern League
is right to be concerned at the unacceptable level of offensive
language.
"We will watch very closely
how this works out."<!-- E BO -->
