RAMSBOTTOM United club secretary John Maher is calling for the powers-that-be to take what he regards as way overdue action on a serious anomaly in the football discipline system.

John, a well known, highly respected and popular figure on the local scene, is himself a Lancashire FA council member and has long been campaigning for the rights of players at the lower levels who appear to be harshly treated on the issue of red and yellow cards.

"The way things are at the moment," says John, "It's one law for the rich and another for the poor. Several things are wrong and it's time to put them right. Players in the Unibond right upto the Premiership are dealt with by the FA itself when they transgress the laws of the game.

"From the NWCL downwards all discipline matters go to the county associations. This means the players at the higher levels are suspended for a number of games whereas the lower reaches get a number of weeks.

"Take an imaginary game. Ramsbottom play Accrington Stanley in the Marsden Trophy, two players get involved in a scuffle and are sent off for violent conduct. The Accrington player would get suspended for three games which as they play most midweeks is likely to see him miss Saturday/Tuesday/Saturday.

"Our lad would get 35 days which, as we also play midweek, could see him sidelined for seven or eight games. Where is the justice in that?"

Maher says the changes he is pushing for will be simple to implement.

He added: "All they have to do is treat North West Counties League clubs the same as Unibond and above but still through the Lancashire FA.

"It only effects around eighteen clubs. That's it. That is all the extra they would have to take on. Secondly don't suspend discipline matters so early in April carry them on. Most leagues go on well into May these days. Whatever has to be carried over instigate suspensions from the very start of the season. That just seems dead easy.

"Everyone I speak to on this tells me I've got a case. They agree with me. The question is 'how do we resolve it?' Its gone on long enough. Let's do something about it." The BEN's John Bullen takes a look at the local amateur soccer scene