The Southern Amateur League is an official FA Respect League and as such is committed to the principles of the Respect Programme. These principles are embedded in SAL and AFA football but even we need to show our commitment to such princples. The SAL's commitment to the Respect Programme was recognised in the 2012 FA Respect Awards with the League being awarded a Bronze award. We proudly wear this award on the title bar of this website.

You can read more about the FA's vision for Respect below, but put plainly the principals of 'respect' (small 'r') dictate that no particpant effects any form of abuse upon another, no matter what the supposed 'provocation'. This includes not shouting abuse at match officials with whom you disagree and not insulting your opponents simply because they are wearing a different colour shirt, to give two examples.

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The SAL is a Respect Silver Award Winner

In its Respect Guide for Leagues (available as a PDF, left) the FA introduces the Respect Programme as follows:

Leagues

Adult Clubs

Referees

Why football needs Respect

The FA is responding to concern from grassroots football to tackle unacceptable behaviour in football.

The plea was contained the biggest survey yet undertaken of the grassroots game in England. This pinpointed eradicating unacceptable behaviour as the No.1 priority. It was an opinion shared by everyone in the game – players, league and club officials, referees and spectators.

The FA is responding in a variety of ways, and one of the main actions is the Respect programme. It is not a short-lived campaign but on ongoing commitment to improve behaviour in football. It won’t be tackled in one or two seasons as we all have a lot of work to do over the years ahead.

One of the main aims of Respect is to tackle the mass drop-out of referees from football due to abuse. Thousands of referees drop out of the game every season, mainly due to the abuse they receive on the pitch and from the sidelines. The number of match officials in 2008 hit its lowest-ever level.

Without referees the game simply cannot be played properly.

The documents at left and much more information can be found on The FA website's Respect page. To save us duplicating, visit it yourself at www.theFA.com/RESPECT.