Seasons2020-21Everton News
Referees told how to deal with coughing, spitting and goal celebrations
According to a report in The Times, the FA has issued guidance to referees on coughing, spitting and goal celebrations as the sport proceeds while government rules on the containment of Covid-19 are in force.
FA guidance for referees includes the following: “Where the referee is certain that someone deliberately, and from close range, coughed into the face of an opponent or match official… the referee should take action under the Law 12 ‘using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures'.
“The action of moving the head/mouth towards someone and then coughing would fall within the ‘spirit' and general definition of a gesture which is ‘a movement of part of the body, especially a hand or the head, to express an idea or meaning'.
“If the incident was not severe enough to merit a sending-off, a caution could be issued for ‘unsporting behaviour — shows a lack of respect for the game'.”
Guidance on goal celebrations states: “Match officials are not responsible for ensuring compliance with social distancing during goal celebrations, this is the responsibility of the player.”
On spitting: “Spitting on the floor is not an act of misconduct, unless it is at someone when it is punishable with a red card, as per the laws of the game.
“Other acts of spitting or similar actions, eg, nose-clearing, are strongly discouraged for all participants. If advice is offered and clearly ignored, then the referee should make specific mention in their match report to the competition.”
Reader Comments (10)
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2 Posted 03/08/2020 at 13:40:00
3 Posted 03/08/2020 at 17:18:46
4 Posted 03/08/2020 at 17:29:21
5 Posted 03/08/2020 at 19:44:46
6 Posted 03/08/2020 at 19:54:06
Maybe refs should also be reminded that drinks breaks are just that and should not be used as "coaching" breaks!
7 Posted 03/08/2020 at 19:58:24
8 Posted 03/08/2020 at 21:18:25
9 Posted 03/08/2020 at 21:30:55
13 Posted 05/08/2020 at 11:51:59
What about biting? Surely that would be just as dangerous.
Tell you what: just ban anyone in an RS shirt and prevent it happening at all.
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1 Posted 03/08/2020 at 12:24:21
No prizes for guessing what club will be the only one hit with this in the entire history of the game. 😃