Caithness amateur clubs are told to improve discipline
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County football chiefs are calling on club officials to help arrest a major dip in on-field discipline.
Caithness Amateur Football Association president Murray Coghill said the statistics from last season made for grim reading.
There were 105 bookings for dissent compared with the pre-pandemic total of 73 in 2019.
Red cards, meanwhile, more than doubled from 21 to 47.
Mr Coghill also deplored an upsurge in foul and abusive language directed at club members who run the line.
"They shouldn't be getting that kind of abuse from the players and I've asked referees to clamp down on it," he said at the association's annual general meeting in Castletown on Tuesday evening.
Addressing the club representatives, he said: "Let's get the message through to the players that this is not good enough.
"The refs won't tolerate it. It makes their life a misery. Speak to your players and ask them to behave themselves."
Mr Coghill later had a pop at the standard of refereeing in some county games last season.
"I thought that last year the refereeing was generally poor and I think that is being generous," he said.
"There was no evidence of the consistent application of the rules. I saw some serious blunders from referees."
Caithness referees' representative Liam Bremner concurred with Mr Coghill's bid to improve discipline on the pitch, agreeing it had become worse.
He said he and his colleagues would be looking to protect club linesmen from abuse.
Responding to the criticism of refereeing standards, Mr Bremner said there was a high proportion of new, inexperienced officials who were still cutting their teeth.
He said they would be mentored at the start of the coming campaign.
"We will look to bring them on but if they don't cut it, they will be taken off the roster," he said.
Referee fees are to rise from £40 to £45 this season.
Mr Coghill was re-elected as president, as were secretary Andy Lannon and the registration and discipline secretary, Gary Coghill.
There remain 14 teams after a hoped-for return of Halkirk failed to materialise.
