Scarborough Athletic take decisive action in response to FA ruling

Both clubs were charged with misconduct by the FA in March following misogynistic abuse aimed at a female match official. Darlington and Scarborough have both been hit by £1,000 fines, with an additional £500 suspended pending any further breaches of these rules next season.

A statement on Boro’s website said: "Scarborough Athletic is required by the FA to adhere to an agreed action plan to combat these issues, part of which is already in place, with further actions and initiatives to follow in the coming weeks.

"These will be communicated to supporters as the main topic of our next Fans Forum which will take place prior to the start of the new season.

"The club have engaged with "Her Game Too" to allow supporters to report misogynistic abuse anonymously and will continue to remind all supporters of their behaviour before and during fixtures. As a club we will be installing further CCTV over the coming weeks to support our operations as recommended by the Safety Advisory Group and the FA.

"Scarborough Athletic FC are committed to making sure that everyone can attend matches without fear of abuse of any nature and upholding the values of our community club. We look forward to working with the majority of our supporters who share the clubs values in helping to remove abuse from football."

The statement explained the FA ruling in detail: “Scarborough Athletic can confirm that we have now received the findings of the FA Commission set up in relation to incidents that took place during our home fixture against Darlington on 2nd January 2023.

"During the match, totally unacceptable misogynistic abuse was aimed at one of the match officials which culminated in the match being suspended for 40 minutes in the second half.

"The club was charged with being in breach of Rule E21.1 of the rules of the FA. In that the club failed to ensure that spectators and/or supporters (and anyone purporting to be our supporters or followers) conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and refrained from improper, violent, threatening, abusive, indecent, insulting and/or provocative words and/or behaviour.

"In addition that the words and/or behaviour made reference to gender contrary to rule FA rule E21.4.

"Scarborough Athletic accepted the charge and subsequent decision of the commission to issue a fine and action plan without appeal.

"The club has been fined £1,500, of which £500 is suspended pending any further breaches of these rules next season.

"In addition to the suspended fine the ruling was clear that further punishments could also be issued should additional rule breaches occur.

"Scarborough Athletic condemns all forms of discrimination, including misogynistic abuse. Any person failing to follow Ground Rules at home or away fixtures could face a banning order and/or police prosecution.

"The individuals responsible for this particular incident were immediately issued with indefinite bans."