Seasonal update from: Hon Secretary

ESBFL – Seasonal update @ October 2026

We are now over a month into the new season for ALL teams and more for the senior divisions.

Every week we are issuing fines and warnings for common and continuing misdemeanours.

We are also continually being asked questions about all sorts of things regarding team, club and league operations. FA and discipline queries are also frequent. We are happy to answer any queries, but it is the case that ALL information you will need to run your team/club can be found in the handbook (all clubs have at least one and it is available on line here as well Layout 1) on line on the website Essex & Suffolk Border Football League The Essex and Suffolk Border League Website and also in the guidance in the handbook and in the guidance notes available to all on the website Essex & Suffolk Border Football League Documents – Essex & Suffolk Border Football League.

THIS INFORMATION RELATES TO ALL LEAGUE TEAMS/CLUBS please make sure it gets to the right people in your team/club.

Below is a resume of the most frequently occurring issues.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND TAKE NOTE – REFERRING TO GUIDANCE OR THE HANDBOOK IF NEEDED.

Provision of Refreshments:

We have issued a number of fines and warnings regarding this. It is Rule 20 A and information can be found in the matchday requirements guidelines as well as the handbook which says, “Refreshments for BOTH teams and Match Officials MUST be provided by the home Club at half time unless these are declined before the game. Clubs in default shall be fined.” The referees report on a number of issues each week and have a tick box for refreshments so please don’t just leave them in the changing room or outside. Actually ask the referee and bring the availability to their attention. It does not need to be anything posh – water or squash is fine. I worked out once that a whole season’s refreshments can be provided for well under £50

Team sheets Exchange:

Rule 20J requires, “At least 30 minutes before the advertised time of kick off, representatives of both sides shall meet with the match referee and exchange Team Sheets.” So you give a copy of your team sheet to BOTH the referee and the opposition. The must be a physical team sheet and not sent digitally. Should your team change before the kick off make sure the referee and opposing manager are aware and that their sheet is updated.

Dug outs/technical areas:

A number of complaints have been received regarding managers and coaching staff not going/remaining in the appropriate areas beside the pitch. Also many teams seem to allow children in the dugouts/technical area – this is unsafe practice and must be avoided. Rule 20L says, “Where a dugout and technical area is provided only named substitutes and a maximum of three Club Officials are allowed within the dugout area during the match (all persons within the dugout area must be aged 16 or over). Only one person is allowed to stand in the technical area at any one time and then only to convey instructions to their team. If there is no dug out but there is a technical area only two persons are allowed to stand in that area at any one time and then only to convey instructions to their team. If there is no dug-out or technical area, then all persons must stay behind the barrier throughout the match. Referees are asked to report any breach of the above on their Result Sheet. Where a cage surrounds the pitch, only Players, Substitutes, Match Official/s and Team Management are allowed inside, unless there is a suitable barrier to stop spectators encroaching onto the pitch.”

SMS text messaging:

This is a greatly improving area with most teams now sending messages in on time. Therefore, just a reminder (Rule 21B) that the result has to be sent within 30 minutes of the game ending by BOTH home and away teams. Please follow the format you get on the incoming message. It is the system which automatically posts the scores, translating this into the league tables and so on. If you do not follow the format or respond to the Reserve Team text with the First Teams score it will not record the correct scores. From the front end of the system, we are able to confirm that a text message has been sent and delivered and whether you have responded along with the date and time. If you do not use the correct format, it will report that the text is “processed with errors” so it is in your interests to get it right! There is occasionally an issue with the messaging (for instance last Saturday the texts were not sent to about a third of the recipients). Where this applies to you please call/text or email/ myself (making sure you identify which team you are!) to report the result.

Full time results:

Rule 21A requires that your team (including substitutions, goal scorers, yellow/red cards, sin bins and referees marks) is posted on the full-time system within 48 hours. We allow you until midnight on Tuesday to post your team where the game is a 3:00pm Saturday kick off. We highly recommend that you use the full time system (best through an iPad, laptop or desk top) and not the Matchday app which sadly seems to create more issues. You should also check that your team has posted by looking at the public facing full time page. The system allows me to see the date and time your team was posted.

Confirmation of fixtures:

Rule 20C says, “An Officer of the home Club must give notice of full particulars of the location of, and access to, the Ground, time of kick-off and kit colours (including goalkeeper) to the Match Officials and an Officer of the opposing Club at least FIVE clear days prior to the playing of the Competition Match. The opposing Club must confirm receipt and give notice of its kit colours (including goalkeeper) at least three days prior to the playing of the Competition Match. If either is not so provided, the relevant Club and Match Officials shall seek such details and report the circumstances to the Competition.” So ideally on the Sunday prior to the match and absolutely no later than the Monday you need to contact and confirm the details with officials and opposition. Sometimes there may be uncertainty as to venue or other arrangements but do not delay confirmation you can confirm specifics later. So, confirm the date and venue but say you are awaiting confirmation of the venue/kick off time or whatever and make sure you follow up. Where you are the opposition, please make sure you have confirmed receipt and so on 3 clear days before the game.

ADVICE AND GENERAL ISSUES

A few of you are using ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE to ask questions regarding rules etc. Whilst AI can be useful in certain circumstance it does not always get the answers correct. So please, if you choose it use it, do not rely on the answers. Get them checked by looking in the handbook, online, or asking!! The League Rules as set out in the handbook are the FA sanctioned rules and are used by ESBL to determine any disputes and breaches.

Make sure that you have the correct people identified though the Competition Portal and FULL TIME as your officers to receive emails and SMS texts. Also make sure the right person is your primary contact. They will be identified on the automated full-time emails as the home or away contact. I can change this as long as the person has an appropriate role. I can also change the people receiving the SMS texts as long as they have a role. All users need to verify their emails. When you are first set up a link is automatically sent. I can see on the system if your email is unverified and can send a new link. Please ask if you think this applies to you.

There have been some issues with FULL TIME – perhaps more this year than in previous years. We are all irritated by the number of times the system needs to send a code. Recently I have found some of these going into my spam – so check there as well. There have been incidents with the texts as detailed above. And also some telephone numbers, just relating to the texts has inexplicably changed. If you think this refers to you I am able to check so contact me to have a look. Where you are unable to access the web site (sometimes you will get a message saying too any requests or bad request or maybe you are not authorised to access this area) it sometimes works if you shut the site and clear your browsing history (you can google how to do this if needed). If you get really stuck call ECFA who may be able to help.

FA – ENGLAND FOOTBALL ACCREDITATION

86 out of our 95 clubs have the England Accreditation award which is brilliant! That is 90%. But we want to get to 100% which is where we were last year. If your team/club does not have the accreditation – it is a relatively straightforward exercise. You can find more information here England Football Accreditation – Essex FA but please let’s see if we can make 100%!

MATCH BALLS

Please remember that Brian still has some ESBL match balls available to buy for £25 each. Please contact Brian directly for this.

And if you have got this far and are still going WELL DONE!!

One of the biggest gripes from the Officers of the League is that many of you appear not to read much or sometimes anything!!

So please keep this for reference, though it will be posted on the website.

And please do read what we send you!

Alison Stanford

Hon Secretary – ESBFL