EFL chief executive Trevor Birch believes the clampdown on player and coach behaviour this season has already produced ‘encouraging’ results.
The 2023-24 campaign has so far seen a significant decrease in incidents of players surrounding match officials and charges of mass confrontations. This follows a tougher application of laws by referees in the EFL and across the professional game.
There has been a 37 per cent decrease in charges for surrounding referees (19 to 12), a 43 per cent decrease in mass confrontation charges (61 to 35), and a 10 per cent reduction in technical area misconduct (70 to 63).
Something that has shot up, though, following the new no-nonsense directives is the number of dissent cautions. They are up from 231 to 597 (158%) compared to the same period last season.
In the EFL, surrounding charges dropped from four to three and mass confrontation charges from 22 to nine. Dissent cautions more than doubled from 149 to 331.
This story is from the December 17, 2023 edition of The Football League Paper.
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This story is from the December 17, 2023 edition of The Football League Paper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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