Page 3 - Keynsham Town Ladies programme

KEYNSHAM TOWN LADIES 3

Manager’s Notes

Today, we welcome Moneyfields and trust they have had a safe
journey from the South coast. They are in a good run of form
and we will have to be at our very best to repeat the victory we
had in the determining round of the League Cup.

Apart from the snow, which thankfully is no longer on the pitch,
our efforts have been directed towards the four page appeal
document that we submitted to the Somerset FA regarding
Brooke Stirrup’s red card last Sunday in the game against
Maidenhead. I have never seen such a poor decision by a referee
in 30 years of running this team.

It had a very well argued case with supporting evidence from
two independent people, one so well placed, just a few feet from
the incident and even the linesman saying that he saw no violent
contact from the player. Indeed, you could not find a person in
the ground who thought a red card was appropriate, except the referee, who changed her
mind during the event. The referee left straight after the game, unchanged and not
stopping for the post match food that was arranged, so we had no opportunity to ask her
why she changed from a yellow to a red card. Under the new discipline system, she was
not called on to produce any report by the SFA.

Sadly, the SFA panel was unable to see what we considered as the validity of our case and
rejected our appeal. We are left with a very distressed young player who has done nothing
wrong in our view and now faces a 3 match ban that is normally dished out for a physical
attack on another player.

What is more important is that this episode has exposed, once again, the reservations that
we hold about the deal we are getting from appointed referees and additionally, the fact
that the current appeal process is not fit for purpose. More about this in a later article on
the subject.

The only positive aspect on the day was the way our players dealt with such an adverse and
unjust situation, not only holding onto the 1-0 lead for a whole half, but actually doubling
it towards the end.
Our young Reserve team are away at Plymouth Argyle
today and their rather limited numbers have been
augmented by four 16 year olds who have stepped up
from the Bristol Girls’ League to the Reserve squad. I wish
them good luck and an enjoyable experience, as they
make their senior debuts for Sven Kierk’s team.