Chief executive officer Neville Davidson has confirmed that the JFA’s disciplinary department are currently dealing with several reported incidents over the past two weeks.
They include a referee reporting that he was the subject of physical contact by a club member; another match official being verbally abused by a spectator, while the JFA themselves are the subjects of abusive comments posted on social media.
Said Davidson: ‘I can’t go into specific cases because they are still under investigation, but I can confirm that one person is currently on ‘gardening leave’ because of an incident reported by a referee and that person can not go anywhere near his club until the outcome of his case has been decided.
‘Social media is giving us a big problem at the moment as well; more and more cases are being reported to us and what is being written by some on Twitter and Facebook is just not acceptable. It can’t continue.
‘We’ve had five or six reports of comments made about the JFA, the Jersey Football Combination and referees and, depending on the seriousness of the comments, suspensions of up to ten matches can be handed out.
‘The JFA are taking social media cases very seriously, so this is a warning to anyone using it to be careful what they write.’
Davidson also confirmed that the JFA are awaiting a referee’s report on the mass confrontation during last Tuesday evening’s Wheway Cup match at Les Quennevais between Jersey Wanderers and Jersey Portuguese and two other incidents, one during and one after the game.
If a club is found guilty of not keeping their players or spectators under control then they are likely to be fined rather than being warned as to their future conduct.
There are varying length suspensions for offenders found guilty of physical contact on a referee – between 112 days and five years.
