Fine for 13 year old

[alwayswantchocolate]

My 13 year old played football in a match this morning. He’s been playing for years, never so much as a yellow card. He’s not a thug, never in trouble at school, there is no history of an issue. Today he tackled badly and his studs were deemed too high- everyone watching felt it was accidental. The referee decided otherwise and he got a red card out of nowhere for that one thing. No warnings leading up to it as there was no sign of an issue with his playing. I probably sound like my little child wouldn’t do something wrong while being blind to it but I don’t actually think that is the case at all.

We now discover that he not only has been banned from the next two matches (ok, well I accept that a punishment is attached to a red card, regardless of whether you agree with it) BUT apparently he is going to be fined somewhere in the region of £25-£50
depending on what they code it as.

Clearly a 13 year old doesn’t have an income so we as parents will have to pay it. This seems outrageous to me. Why is there a financial penalty for a child?! It’s not repeated offences - where even then I would have thought different non financial punishments would be applied like the missing x matches part.

on top of that, if we appeal it the fine is likely to be increased and we certainly won’t win apparently as the referee and his decisions will be protected for his good. And if we don’t pay it, the whole youth club of numerous teams will be banned from matches, which to me sounds like blackmail.

I’m so so cross that not insignificant financial penalties are being imposed on children. Am I being unreasonable?

I haven’t said I said that to my child though have I? Stop trying to stir up trouble by making things up.

Unfortunately if he wants to play in the league you have to abide by the rules.

Agreed OP - the fine is just someone's bright idea to make money with no thought for the disparity between those who can afford to pay it and those who can't.
The match ban is appropriate. And maybe some additional training/certification before returning to the game to remind offenders of how to avoid red card situations. That would be much more useful than a fine which half the children will be unaware of.

For full disclosure my older son is also a young referee. I don’t agree with the decision entirely in this case no, but I didn’t approach the ref (who was an adult in this case) about it.

What I am mostly annoyed about is the punishment of a fine for a child of 13 which as I understand it is set by the FA. I would have accepted the two game ban, which he also has. I don’t see how punishing me helps. He’s genuinely a good kid, always the one to step in and defuse situations not start them. And he never retaliates, he’s small for his age and knows he won’t come out of it well!

Yes quite, I would have been supportive of that even with my reservations about whether it was deserved. It feels like a money making scheme, targeting someone with no income. Just feels wrong.

It’s not the rules I’m primarily concerned about or even a match ban it’s the financial penalty for a 13 year old.

Yes I think the red card was undeserved but I would have just taken the match ban and felt mildly irritated.

Just to clarify - my comment wasn't aimed at you, it was after blacksax's comment which basically said they'd be livid, tell "them" to F-off and about domineering men bullying and intimidating children.