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George Wassell of Red Lion and Peter Odetunde of Sheerness East Sunday both banned for 112 days after abuse towards match officials

Members of opposing teams were hit with bans after separate incidents of abuse towards officials in a Sheppey Sunday League fixture.

George Wassell of the Red Lion and Peter Odetunde of Sheerness East Sunday were both handed 112-day suspensions after being found guilty at a non-personal hearing of the Football Association’s Disciplinary Commission.

Disciplinary charges were levied at the pair following a cup match between the teams on November 28, 2021 which was played at Sheerness East WMC.

Odetunde - a player for East who was on the touchline that day and standing in front of the barriers - was found guilty of improper conduct following an altercation with an assistant referee, with an allegation that he said “I will f****** hurt you, you old man” or similar.

In the referee’s report, Odetunde had been asked to move by the assistant referee and the response was “f****** make me, you f****** old man”. The fixture was delayed for 10 minutes as the report stated Odetunde “refused to leave the side of the field of play”.

Odetunde stated that the assistant referee had “kneed him in the head as he was bent over tying up his laces and offered no apology, instead threatening him”. It was further noted that a number of spectators stated the assistant had made contact with people stood on the touchline and “acted confrontationally towards them”.

The commission report stated that Odetunde - who previously had a clean discipline record - admitted his charge and submitted a number of statements suggesting that he was antagonised by the assistant referee but accepted that his reaction had been “over the top”. Along with a ban he was fined £75 and ordered to complete an online education course.

Wassell was accused of using offensive language towards the referee after being sent off, with the commission’s report saying he went “absolutely mad” and was restrained by three players. The referee noted that at that time he said “wait ‘till after the game, I’m not even joking”.

The commission said that the club, Red Lion, commented that it was out of character for Wassell to act as he did and the player also admitted his reaction was “over the top”. There had been no previous disciplinary action other than a previous yellow and red card.

He was also fined £75 and ordered to attend an online education course. Both clubs were issued with six penalty points. There is a right to appeal the decisions.

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