REFEREES in semi-pro football clampdown on players on swearing more than they do in the professional game, believes Alan White, who is well-placed to judge given his experience in the game.

He played for over 15 years in full-time football, representing a number of clubs across the country in the Football League before dropping into non-league football four years ago.

Now 39, the sight of the Darlington defender becoming engaged in a lengthy disputes with referees has become commonplace, yet says cautions for dissent were a rarity when he was playing for the likes of Luton, Leyton Orient and Darlington in the Football League.

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“The professional referees understood that the game means a lot and it’s your job, so the odd little swearword they would let go,” said White, who is now in the Northern Premier League with Quakers.

“At the end of the day, lads swear, it happens when you’re getting a bit passionate or frustrated.

“It’s never personal, but all the referees at this level cannot handle it. They say ‘I’m booking you because you’re shouting at me and you’re swearing, you’re being aggressive’. You can’t book someone for that.

“Booking me because I’ve sworn? You’re a grown man! It’s not liked I’ve punched him. I’m not calling them a name or being horrible, I’m just disagreeing with his decision.

“At Salford last season I got a second bookings for saying something like ‘watch the ball, ref’, after Graeme Armstrong had been fouled but he didn’t give a free-kick. So then I get suspended and fined, it cracks me up!”

White also played for Notts County and Boston United, among others, in the full-time game and is now into his third spell with his hometown club.

He added: “I was always very combative, winning headers, getting stuck into people, and in the Football League almost all of my bookings were for fouls, I hardly ever got done for dissent.

“I reckon 70-80 per cent of the bookings I’ve had since I’ve been back at Darlington have been because they haven’t liked the fact someone is swearing at them.”