David McWilliam says parents poor behaviour at children's games is 'worrying trend'
Ellis Jones Solicitors partner David McWilliam has been re-appointed to the Football Association (FA) National Serious Case Panel.
The panel is responsible for dealing with all types of serious disciplinary cases within grassroots football.
It deals with assaults or attempted assaults on match officials, threatening a match official, participant assaults and any discriminatory issues on behalf of the FA.
McWilliam said: “Cases have been fairly regular and cover a wide range of charges.
Unfortunately some cases have involved parents of children getting games abandoned due to their behaviour and treatment of match officials. A worrying trend but we are doing all we can with the FA to reduce this unacceptable behaviour.”
He continued: “Charges involving threats or abuse towards match officials continue to take place on a too regular basis. Some referees have decided to stop refereeing due to incidents that they have had to deal with in a game. Again, the FA is doing great work with match officials and in recruiting new referees to grassroots football.”