A DETERMINED amateur footballer banned for five years for pushing a referee in the face is considering civil action after his latest attempt to clear his name was dismissed.

A DETERMINED amateur footballer banned for five years for pushing a referee in the face is considering civil action after his latest attempt to clear his name was dismissed.

Nicky Guyon last night revealed his distress and anger after a Football Association hearing in London rejected his appeal against the lengthy suspension.

The well-known footballer, who has played for a host of Suffolk clubs, was given the national ban when he pushed referee Maurice Cook after he was handed a red card while playing for Cornard United in January.

Since then, Mr Guyon has vehemently denied claims that he punched the official and told the EADT the fact that police only handed him a caution for common assault backed this up.

“I have accepted from day one that I was wrong, I never denied that I pushed him,” Mr Guyon said.

“I admitted and accepted the caution at the police station but the claim that I punched him and caused him facial injuries was unproven.

“I am now seeking legal advice, looking at various aspects of the law and maybe a civil case (to clear his name).

“I would ask people to be open minded as I have told the truth from the start.”

Mr Guyon said the referee overreacted after abandoning the match and calling the police following the incident in United's match against Stanway Rovers in the Ridgeons League.

Following an unsuccessful appeal in front of the Suffolk FA, Mr Guyon took his fight to the Association's head office in London.

But a hearing on Tuesday concurred with the local branch and turned down his appeal - although the panel allowed the 39-year-old the opportunity to return to coaching from January.

The married father-of-five, from Sudbury, said the incident and subsequent appeal process had been particularly upsetting for the whole family.

He said: “It has been rather distressing for everyone, my wife has broken down in tears and my children have come home crying.

“I feel so strongly about it. I am not fighting to save my football career - I'm 40 this year and a realist - but I am fighting to clear my name and I will continue to do so.”

In a distinguished career in local football, Mr Guyon has played for Ipswich Wanderers, Bury Town, Braintree Town, Wivenhoe, Felixstowe and Harwich.

During his latest appeal he argued that the Football Association action should echo the police action as well as adopting the FA's own guidelines, which state that common assault on a football pitch should lead to a 180-day ban.

But Suffolk FA secretary Martin Head said football's governing body took a different line to the police on what constituted common assault.

“There is not necessarily a correlation between the police and FA's interpretation of common assault,” Mr Head said.

And he stressed that the FA appeal process open to Mr Guyon had now been exhausted.

He said: “In football terms, Mr Guyon has now gone through the whole appeal process.”