Referee Darren Drysdale has been handed a backdated ban and warned about his future conduct by the FA for for squaring up to Alan Judge in the Blues’ 0-0 draw with Northampton Town at Portman Road last month.

Drysdale admitted improper conduct to an FA independent regulatory commission, who imposed a ban which ran from 19th February to 10th March, meaning the official, a sergeant in the RAF based at Waddington in Lincolnshire, can return to football.

The 50-year-old, who has been refereeing since 1988 and was appointed to the National List of referees covering EFL games in 2004, was removed from officiating in two EFL matches and missed a further three fixtures he would have expected to have been involved in either as a referee or fourth official. Drysdale has also been warned about his future conduct.

In a statement Drysdale claimed the abuse he had received from Judge was the worst he had experienced as a referee: “Alan Judge then, in my opinion, exaggerates his fall in a desperate attempt to gain a penalty kick for his team.

“I then processed what had happened for a few seconds before blowing my whistle and decided to caution Alan Judge for an act of trying to deceive a match official.

“As I blew my whistle Alan Judge shouted aggressively in a loud voice at me and from a distance of only five metres ‘It's a f***ing penalty you cheating bald c***!’.

“Reacting completely out of character, I took exception to what I considered to be an offensive comment. I walked towards Alan Judge who then continued his tirade of abuse as he then, what I deemed as, aggressively and provokingly pointed his finger towards my face and shouted, ‘You're a fucking cheating c**!”.

“I accept that I should not have moved my head towards Alan Judge as this only inflamed the situation. At no time was there any physical contact between myself and Alan Judge.

“My action of moving forward was as a posture of authority and with the player being significantly shorter than me, this led to me looking down at him. I then issued a yellow card to Alan Judge for his exaggerated fall.”

Neither Judge nor Town gave an account of the events, Tarik Shamel, head of on-field regulation, explaining: “I spoke with the Ipswich Town club secretary, Stuart Hayton, on the telephone, who confirmed that neither the club nor Alan Judge wished to make any complaint against Mr Drysdale.

“Mr Hayton said that it was acknowledged that the referee may well have been reacting to something that was said and the player concerned did not wish to pursue the matter and did not want any action taken against Mr Drysdale.”

The club was contacted again on March 7th with Shamel adding: “Alan Judge...was unavailable to be contacted. Mr Hayton did, however, reconfirm the club and the player’s previous position.

“Mr Hayton was able to confirm that he was aware that whilst the player did not accept that he had used the word, “c***”, he did agree that he had used other insulting words towards Mr Drysdale, immediately prior to the incident in question.”

Judge was later asked for his account again but the commission was told: “His stance remains the same that he does not wish to be involved at all and he considered the matter closed when he left the field of play that evening.

“He wishes Mr Drysdale well with his refereeing career and does not wish to pursue the matter nor add any further comments or speak to the regulatory commission.”

Drysdale said that with hindsight he should have dismissed Judge for his conduct. Soon afterwards, he did send off Flynn Downes for comments he made immediately after being booked for a foul.

A day after the incident, Drysdale released an apology to Judge and Town through Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).

Photo: Matchday Images

itsonlyme added 19:07 - Mar 11 Well well well, I was under the impression that if you swore directly at a referee it was a straight red? So not sure what to make of this. Either way the referee was totally wrong it was a penalty and he should not have reacted like he did.
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AlpineBlue added 19:28 - Mar 11 I have to say, that if Alan Judge has admitted to being abusive to the referee, then he should be be fined or suspended by the club and the FA. It would have been no less than he deserved if the ref had floored him.
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Frankley_Blue added 19:34 - Mar 11 Instead of going head to head he should've sent Judge off. Language and calling him a cheat like that... straight red imo
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Cloddyseedbed added 19:41 - Mar 11 I thought at the time it was a penalty and my opinion has not changed. That does not give Judge the right to swear and verbally assault a referee. If the refs account is correct Judge was lucky to just get a yellow. Still should have been awarded a penalty though, then there wouldn't have been an altercation. Personally I don't think players should crowd round referees all the time, challenging decisions.

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OriginalMarkyP added 20:05 - Mar 11 TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE... that I find this quite as funny as I do.
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OriginalMarkyP added 20:05 - Mar 11 TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE... that I find this quite as funny as I do.
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Phil1969 added 20:05 - Mar 11 If Judge called me bald and a cu*t I would say fair enough I'm both. I'm also a qualified ref. Lol
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shakytown added 20:11 - Mar 11 Any verbal abuse of a referee or any other official should be a straight red. It must be so difficult for them when every time a player even gets touched they fall over and roll around screaming like they are dying. There needs to be a video review of the cheats who fake injury to get penalties and free kicks and then are sprinting like nothing happened 10 seconds later.

4

TractorWood added 20:45 - Mar 11 This type of abuse of refs in normalised. Refs aren't empowered to take proper action. Therefore the ref snapped. Unbelievable it doesn't happen more imo.
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Theonlywayisup added 20:53 - Mar 11 So why on earth did Judge not get a second yellow if this was indeed the case?
0

AK74 added 21:36 - Mar 11 I'm not buying this. Drysdale states it is the worst abuse he has suffered as a ref yet he only booked Judge for simulation yet Downed got sent off for his comments. Why on earth would you then apologise to someone who has called you a cheat and dropped the C Bomb? I've no doubt there was some abuse from Judge, which I don't condone but I can't help thinking that the ref has exaggerated it to justify his actions. If it hadn't been for our wonderful former manager making a big deal of it to deflect from what was a woeful performance, it probably wouldn't have come to this. As it is boththe ref and Judge now have question marks against their characters.

2

Essexnblue added 21:38 - Mar 11 The official was at fault from start to finish. If this is correct then, Judge was correctly cautioned for allegedly diving, then should have had a straight red card for using foul and abusive language to an official. A referee at that level should be trusted to enforce the laws, but alas it seems they are either incapable of understanding the law or too weak to enforce it?

2

BeattiesBackPocket added 21:49 - Mar 11 Tbh I've been called a bald c@nt a few times I found it funny 🤷‍♂️ But alas other posters said that's a straight red if he had of said that so his story doesn't make sense and he shouldn't be refereeing if he still thinks that wasn't a penalty! What a drip
0

dirtydingusmagee added 22:06 - Mar 11 you cant have officials ''losing it'' so that was the wrong thing in heated moment. However i feel a bit sorry for the ref, i believe his version, and thats why Judge didnt want to say anything afterwards so he is far from blameless. The photo i still find amusing though think he would have eaten Judgie lol. Hope they both learn something from it and move on now .

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meekreech added 22:41 - Mar 11 This guy is a graduate of the d'urso school of refereeing and been known to have anti itfc feelings and allowed them to cloud his judgment.
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istanblue added 23:21 - Mar 11 Lol best thing Judge has done in an ITFC shirt.
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Edmundo added 23:40 - Mar 11 Why is it acceptable to behave like you're a primary school kid with Tourettes in football, but not rugby? And don't use the "culture" bs, it's not 1920 anymore: we've even got an ex public school kid wearing number 10.
2

norfolkbluey added 06:57 - Mar 12 50/50. The ref and Judge were both at fault. Judge should have been dismissed for foul abuse but why did Judge react so badly? Clearly it was a pen and the ref got it wrong but that did not negate the reaction by Judge. Time for ref's to have a microphone is well overdue. Rugby leads the way on this but they need it with a quite violent and sometimes explosive sport. I am surprised we don't have more situations like this but even VAR gets it wrong sometimes. What happened to the idea of not surround the ref? Players still do it. It appears these days there is little or no respect for authority either on the pitch, at home in the classroom or in society generally. Judge was lucky in this instance and the reason he didn't want a fuss was because he knew he had crossed the line.

1

leftie1972 added 08:08 - Mar 12 Drysdale has just completely covered his big arse in that statement to prevent a further investigation by the RAF for bring them into disrepute!
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johnwarksshorts added 08:35 - Mar 12 Outrageous behaviour by a referee. Can't ever remember seeing a ref behave like this. Totally unprofessional. If Judge said something that bad for him to react as he did, he should have sent him off.
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Bergholtblue added 09:59 - Mar 12 In the Sky Sports clip above, there are 6 players immediately surrounding the referee. If the FA was taking this incident seriously, surely they would take statements from all of these players? They were close enough to have heard what was said and could confirm one way or the other. Then if the ref's account was true then Judge should receive retrospective sanctions. The whole incident has been poorly dealt with as is normal for the FA.

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SouperJim added 13:48 - Mar 12 Those saying verbal abuse of the ref should be a straight red, do you realise that most games would have to be abandoned? I'm not saying it's right, but you have to change the culture, not just start sending players off left right and center. Every now and again something like this happens, the subject gets brought up again, various comparisons are made with rugby, then it dies down again and nothing changes. The ref got the decision wrong, Judge reacted badly, deserved yellow, but the ref was aggressive and also deserved a slap on the wrist. Nothing more to see here and I don't get why so many are so desperate to pick sides.

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