For the second consecutive season, three of the Cumberland FA’s leagues are ready to stop poor behaviour in its tracks.
Carlisle City Sunday League, Cumberland County League and West Cumberland Sunday League are the competitions involved.
Whilst the majority of football inside Cumberland continues to be played in a positive environment and without any real incidents, it cannot be denied that this is not the perception within the game.
The number of cases of poor behaviour being reported has marginally increased recently.
During the 2024/25 season, Cumberland FA’s adult leagues came together, supported by the county FA, to look at a way of working collectively to monitor teams’ levels of behaviour against expected standards within the county.
The traffic light system is based on the new original idea that inspired the CFA’s Nationally Recognised Behaviour Ladder, and uses FA Disciplinary Penalty Points, which were changed ahead of the 2024/25 season, to focus on behavioural offences such as dissent.
All teams start the season in green, moving through the lights if they accumulate penalty points and pass certain thresholds throughout the season.
The system will look to reward teams who are good to go and remain within green by entering these teams into a monthly draw for a £50 voucher for kitlocker.com.
However, it also recognises that there must be consequences for teams that consistently demonstrate undesirable behaviour, have examples of unacceptable behaviour, or refuse to take any responsibility or proactive action to address any such incidents throughout the course of the season.
It is a staged approach which would see the lights change for teams who accumulate a specific number of points throughout the season.
At each change of the lights there are increasingly serious sanctions and actions/responses required of the teams, until ultimately, at red, a team’s affiliation can be frozen or removed, meaning that, that team will completely stop and cannot play football.
The lights are as follows:
- Level 1 – Green: All good to go and continue (0-24 points)
- Level 2 – Flashing amber: Be aware. Think about things and how you can address any issues before they become more serious. Clubs/teams will receive a warning letter, but no official action and can continue to play (25-49 points)
- Level 3 – Amber: Prepare to stop. Clubs/teams will be charged, given a fine, and requested to meet with CFA/league to discuss how this will be addressed through an agreed action plan (50-99 points)
- Level 4 – Red: Stop. The club/team will be charged and asked to attend an FA disciplinary commission to outline proactive and significant actions that it has taken to address the problem. Commission has the power to, among other things such as fining the club, to stop that team from playing.
The league and county FA will have a role to play in offering support to teams and clubs to address any issues and hopefully ensure that teams do not progress to the next stage of the system.
