A&H

Punishment for persistent foul language (not OFFINABUS)

N

NotAnthonyTaylor

New Member
Hi all,

I had a thought about foul language from players during a Saturday league match I watched recently.

In the match, a player was constantly (and loudly) swearing whenever they made a mistake. Not enough to reasonably argue OFFINABUS, but the referee appropriately warned the player about their language, and they stopped.

That made me wonder - if they continued using foul language, what punishment would the referee go with, and under what code?

It feels really harsh to send them off for offensive language since you've only given them a warning for the same thing earlier, so common sense says to go with a yellow - but what for?

The two I came up with were for adopting an aggressive attitude or for persistent infringement - but what if it's said in a non-aggressive way? Can you even give PI for language offenses?

Of course it could be put under unspecified behaviour, but I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge of if it fits under one specific offense?
 
The Referee Store
Difficult to see how the referee can do that in any game to be honest.

Sure, we might think it's distasteful to hear youngsters effing and blinding (or even adults) but "foul" language is not mentioned in the LOTG. That's why thousands of footballers at every level from Premier League down to Dog & Duck 2nd team aren't being sent off every week!!

Swearing isn't an offence in and of itself, end of. If it's directed in a way that's genuinely offensive, insulting or abusive then yes, but if not, it's of no concern to a referee how a player chooses to articulate themselves.
 
It's a difficult one - in early days of parks football, I remember a couple of games where the club had problems with locals complaining about language, but I can't remember teams trying to be anything other than co-operative when it was pointed out.

More recently, I have had a couple of occasions when someone lambasting themselves or a team mate has gone over the top in volume and vocabulary, but a gentle 'I appreciate he's your team mate, but we don't want to hear that word' or similar has done the trick. I think if it's not done in an officious way, team mates will also usually be supportive
 
If you're warning them of an infringement and they fail to react to that warning, PI is the answer.

But I agree that the premise of the question is somewhat flawed - non-OFFINABUS swearing is difficult to justify as an infringement in the first place.

If you're warning for it, the warning should in theory be that you're aware of the possibility of it becoming OFFNABUS, should it become more frequent/louder/more offensive. And therefore if you do choose to give them a warning, it should come with the clear suggestion that if you do need to penalise, it could easily be straight to a red card.
 
JamesL said:
Probably need some match context here.

Age group being fairly key? Words used?

Adults i'm not even warning for language not directed at anyone. That would be hypocritical as the language used in this house is atrocious!! 😂
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Women's open age. Words used were only "f off", shouted very loudly however not directed at anyone in particular. It only really stuck in my mind since it was a women's match, which from my experience tends to be a lot better behaved, so anything like this stands out like a sore thumb.
Pretty fair argument for letting it go, pulling up on such low-level foul language probably causes more problems then it solves 😂
GraemeS said:
If you're warning for it, the warning should in theory be that you're aware of the possibility of it becoming OFFNABUS, should it become more frequent/louder/more offensive. And therefore if you do choose to give them a warning, it should come with the clear suggestion that if you do need to penalise, it could easily be straight to a red card.
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That's seems like a very good way to handle it - very well put.

Thanks all around for all the responses.
 
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