A man who grabbed a referee at a women's football match and threatened to punch him has been fined and banned for more than 400 days.
Mark Coles was at Bitton Sports Club on November 6 when the Gloucestershire County Women's League fixture between Bitton Ladies and Gloucester City Women was abandoned by referee Wayne Millin at half time.
Coles had been watching a youth game on an adjacent pitch when he was alerted to one of the Bitton players – his partner – suffering an injury late in the first half. Minutes later, the referee found Coles waiting for him in the dressing room where he was physically confronted about the incident. Mr Millen said Coles grabbed him by the shirt and threatened to "punch his lights out".
After breaking free from Coles' grasp, Mr Millin reported the incident to the Bitton manager and informed him the game was to be abandoned. The referee said in his statement he then walked outside the clubhouse to identify the man and Coles grabbed him for a second time, this time by the arm before saying "I will knock your lights out you f***** cheating c***".
CCTV clips captured part of the incident, with one video showing Coles saying "I’ll f****** sort you out”.
After leaving Bitton Sports Club, Mr Millin reported the incident to Avon & Somerset Constabulary, which looked into the matter at the time, but there are no ongoing enquiries.
However, Coles was charged by the Football Association with improper conduct against a match official and Steve Francis, of the National Serious Case Panel, deemed the charges to be proven on the balance of probability after a correspondence hearing based on submissions of written statements and two CCTV clips.
Coles, who did not respond to the charge and offered no mitigation in the case, was handed a suspension of 434 days from all football activity by the FA, backdated to November 15. He was also fined £115 and ordered to complete a mandatory face-to-face education programme.
On the day of the incident, Bitton banned Coles from the ground and from watching any Bitton games, both home and away.
The incident stemmed from a tackle near the end of the first half when a Coles' partner was hurt in the process of making a sliding challenge on a Gloucester player, catching a stud and suffering a gash on her leg, which required stitches in hospital.
No foul was given by Mr Millin, who was accosted by Coles during the half-time interval.
In correspondence with the Gloucestershire Football Association when the incident was being investigated, Bitton expressed its disappointment at the incident. "The players from both teams and management had nothing to do with this and were bitterly disappointed the game didn’t continue," a statement read.
"This is deeply frustrating for us as we don’t condone any type of abuse as previously stated and it’s equally frustrating the fact no Bitton or Gloucester players or officials was involved."
While not making excuses for Coles' behaviour, Bitton claimed the referee was "very rude" and "never spoke to both managers correctly to abandon the game and left us to tell Gloucester City side. Both sets of players and managers had nothing to do with this and were completely gobsmacked and frustrated at the decision."
Mr Millin has been a referee for more than 25 years. He told Bristol Live in November he believed the injury was the result of a "freak accident" and he was shocked by Coles' reaction.
He added: "What really annoys me is the fact I left the referee’s door open in the changing room and there were 20-odd people outside watching and not one of them came to my aid. I was on my own. They stood there and watched.
"I decided I can’t fear for my safety, so that was it, the game was off.”
In reaching his verdict, commission chair Steve Francis wrote: "The videos, whilst not showing the physical contact do appear to show the referee identifying the alleged perpetrator and the accusation of being pushed is made. The identified individual is also clearly using foul and abusive language to the referee as they approach the official and follow them at a brisk pace.
"There is no statement provided by Mr Coles to explain their version of the events or to refute the charge that has been levied against them.
"Of the events the referee reported that are shown in the video, whilst the words used may not be exact they do add credibility to what has been said to him and some of the actions of Mr Coles. The action of Mr Coles in both pushing the match referee and then grabbing them by the arm and issuing threats do meet the threshold for the charge of physical contact against a match official.
"Therefore, on the balance of probability, the commission believes it was more likely than not that the events occurred as described by the referee and has found the charge as proven."
