A number of people (yes, really) have asked club officials in recent times for the rulings on suspensions and when they kick in.
A few people were concerned that I posted online that Chris Jones had scored in the win over Newbridge when he had been sent off in the previous outing against Talgarth Town – they were concerned that he should not have been playing in the Newbridge game.
In an ideal world, there would be one rule that covered all suspensions – the sensible way to go would be that if you were sent off, then you would be suspended for the next game.
Clearly, the length of that ban would depend on the offence committed, but you would certainly face a one-match ban anyway, so that surely be the obvious way thing to do.
However, as we all know, nothing in local football is ever quite that simple.
Max Powell will miss the game against Hay St Marys on Saturday, 29 March as he was sent off last Saturday in a league game – so, a match classed as ‘senior football’.
Those suspensions come in after a seven-day time frame, so Max has to sit out the game this weekend.
Chris Jones and Danny Ives were both ‘walked’ in the Radnorshire Cup tie against Talgarth Town, hence the concern from some supporters they should not have figured against Newbridge.
But the Radnorshire Cup is classed as a ‘junior competition’ as a lot of Mid Wales League (South) clubs are involved and the bans at junior football don’t kick in until 14 days after the offence.
So, Chris and Danny will each serve a one-match ban as from 1 April, but are eligible to play in tomorrow’s match against Hay St Marys.
We are told the reason for the 14-day ruling is that there are no full-time officials running the Central Wales FA, whereas there are with the FAW.
There are no full-time officials running clubs, either, and all this serves to do is risk confusion and the totally innocent playing of players in certain competitions when, really, they should be banned.
We fell victim to to this in the Radnorshire Cup a few years ago and other clus have done similar things – it’s surely about time they came up with one rule that covers all competitions.