The Football Association has refused to discipline a player who allegedly assaulted an amateur referee. It says no action can be taken due to a bungled investigtion. As reported in the Manchester Evening News Pete Carden claims he was hurt after being knocked to the ground by a player who told him 'the sun was in my eyes' during a game.
The 72-year-old former postman says he was sworn at in a game earlier this year. He says he was then knocked to the ground by a player suffering a torn thigh muscle. Mr Carden also says he suffered pain to his neck, chest, and back.
But Mr Carden from Whitefield, Bury, says he now feels "verbally assaulted" by the national FA after it refused to take action following a flawed initial investigation by Manchester Football Association.
Mr Carden says he submitted an "extraordinary incident report" to Manchester FA within two days. He claims he did not hear from officials until around three months later.
He says he was asked to answer a series of questions about the alleged incident but didn't hear anything back until last month. He claims he was told at a meeting the FA had missed the deadline for dealing with the alleged attack by a day and a half.
After the M.E.N made inquiries, the London-based FA's regional discipline manager contacted Mr Carden and invited him to a telephone meeting last week to discuss his complaint.
"I had an hour conversation and when it ended I felt like I had been assaulted over again - verbally - this time by own team. They had the same attitude as Manchester FA. They were totally apologetic for the mistakes, but they can't do anything for me."
Mr Carden says he was told the Manchester FA had sent notice to the player of him being charged in relation to the incident 89 days after it was reported - which under FA rules left him only one day to reply - they had 90 days in which to issue it. He says the Manchester FA was then given a discretionary additional 28 days for him to respond, which he didn't.
The FA then went one and half days over the second deadline. The M.E.N understands Manchester FA investigated the case and charged the player concerned, but that he did not respond. At that point the matter should have been heard in the player's absence, but it wasn't and now the case is deemed "out of time".
Mr Carden said: "If the FA had dealt with it properly the player could have been suspended if they thought the case proven. I have already suffered enough with this, now I am being told by the FA there's nothing we can do. I cannot turn to the Indpendent Football Ombudsman because they only deal with complaints involving the professional game."
Mr Carden, who has taken charge of more than 3,500 games during 36 years with the FA. He said: "If Manchester FA get fined over this they deserve it. But I would still not be satisfied because the person I have accused of assaulting me is free to do it to someone else. This has affected me deeply - the FA's handling of it more so than the incident on the football pitch."
A spokesman from the FA's London HQ said: "As set out in The FA’s rules and regulations, disciplinary charges must be submitted to The FA for hearing within 28 days. Any cases submitted outside of this time period can only be heard if an extension is requested by the County FA.
"If the case is submitted after the deadline, an extension cannot be permitted retrospectively. We are offering full support to the referee both through the County FA and our National refereeing team. We are also in dialogue with Manchester FA, who are in contact with the referee, and we are speaking to the referee ourselves."
Manchester FA have been contacted for comment over the decision by the FA in London to uphold their decision not to take any action against the player because the case was out of time. Last week, Manchester FA Chief Executive, Colin Bridgford said: "We are in contact with Mr Carden and will continue to offer him our full support and we will speak to the Football Association in respect of this matter."
