Grassroots football to trial cooling-off periods in bid to tackle rise in misconduct

The Football Association is to introduce cooling-off periods in grassroots football in acknowledgement that “more must be done” to contain bad behaviour by players at that level.

A select number of grassroots leagues are to trial the system this year, a move that will allow referee to order players of both teams to stop and retreat to their penalty area in order to prevent “escalation during heated moments in a match”.

During 2023-24, the latest season for which figures are available, the FA received 4,277 allegations of serious misconduct at grassroots level, a 13% increase on the previous year. The governing body is committed to “creating safe, respectful, and inclusive environments” in the grassroots game, according to its director of football development, James Kendall.

“We’re clear on our position that all forms of unacceptable behaviour, whether on or off the pitch, have no place in football,” Kendall said. “We’ve made good progress on addressing these issues, but we recognise there is still more to be done, and we need to constantly adapt, develop and evolve our procedures in line with changes in the game.”

The International Football Association Board (Ifab), which determines the laws of the game, authorised trials of cooling-off periods in 2024. It argued the measure could be used in instances of “significant confrontation” so as to “prevent further confrontations and the need for the match to be abandoned.”

Any player who does not adhere to a referee’s instructions regarding a cooling-off period will receive a yellow card. Captains and coaches will then be charged with calming down their teammates before reporting back to the referee, who will use their discretion to restart play. The FA’s aim is to keep any break brief, “based on the seriousness of the situation and conditions”.

Cooling-off is only one of several measures that will be deployed this season in a new crackdown on discriminatory behaviour, abuse of officials, and more general misconduct. Among the measures deployed include an extension of the use of referee body-cams across all leagues with persistent disciplinary problems and the introduction of the captain’s-only protocol, whereby only the captain can discuss decisions with the referee, which is also to be adopted in the Premier League and Football League.

The FA will also continue its “behaviour improvement programme”, introduced last year and by which clubs are ranked according to behaviour.