The FA will introduce the match based suspension scheme to all eleven a side football next season, which means that for the first time Northern League clubs won’t be badly affected by Sunday football suspensions.

Both divisions of the league are subject to match suspension schemes which are administered by the FA, and now the national body has announced that all levels of the game will follow suit, right across the country following a trial period – and that includes Sunday , junior and veterans football. Plus, discipline will be administered separately for Saturday and Sunday football, which means the end of crossover suspensions.

FA Disciplinary manager Mark Ives said; : “This is a fantastic move forward for football at local level, made possible by the hard work and commitment of those County Football Associations and the seven Leagues associated with the trials.

“In short, this will mean that any player sent from the field of play in adult football will receive sporting sanctions the same as those received at the top flight, based on numbers of matches rather than a fixed period of time. The effect on this is a fairer and consistent sanction for all.”

In the past, if a player was dismissed in Sunday football his time suspension would also cover Saturday football. Sometimes this worked unfairly, as a suspended player might not miss any games in bad weather, but could miss many more near the end of a season in a fixture pile up.

There was also criticism of the inequality of suspensions. A player could be sent off on a Saturday and be suspended for three matches, but if he committed the same offence on a Sunday, he would be suspended for five weeks.

However, if a player is sent off for misconduct, then he can still be suspended from both Saturday and Sunday football, depending on the severity of the offence.