A SOCCER player has been banned for life and fined £200 after being found guilty of assaulting a referee.

But 31-year-old defender Gary Lloyd is set to appeal against the decision by the Lancashire Football Association as he feels his hearing was unfair and the outcome "harsh".

He said: "I am obviously devastated.

"I went to the hearing thinking I may get banned for three or four months so I was in shock when they said it was a lifetime ban, to be reviewed in five years."

He referred to the incident in the late 1990s when Sheffield Wednesday player Paolo Di Canio received a nine-game ban for pushing a referee.

"Di Canio pushed Paul Alcock and got a nine-game ban. I didn't even get to the referee and got at least five years. I am devastated.

"I don't believe I got a fair hearing and I want to appeal."

The decision means that Bacup FC player Lloyd will not allowed to play competitive football, even at five-a-side level.

Lancashire FA's disciplinary officer Jim Parker said the hearing was held according to the rules.

"As far as I concerned, the chairman handled the commission extremely well. Gary Lloyd was given a sine die ban, to be reviewed after five years, and fined.

" I am surprised that he didn't think it was fair. We listened to both sides of the story and came to our decision. He has the right to appeal."

Lloyd, a semi-professional footballer who joined Bacup in February after being out of the game for 15 months with a knee injury, was involved in the incident in a North West Counties Division Two clash at Stone Dominoes in mid-April.

Lloyd, who was hoping to play a big part in Bacup's charge for promotion next season, said it initially started when he questioned a decision by referee Mike Shaw, a police constable from Macclesfield, on 20 minutes.

"I just asked him to explain why he had made a decision. I wasn't abusive but I kept asking him and he told me to go away and then said 'Have that' and showed me a yellow card.

"I did swear at him, I admit that, and he said 'Have that then' and showed me the red card.

"I went to the dressing room and came back out onto the pitch to confront him.

"My team-mate Mark Rawstron and Bacup manager Brent Peters, who attended the hearing as my witnesses, held me back."

The referee and his assistants' reports said Lloyd, who works as a business liaison officer in Salford, had made contact with Shaw a number of times.

"I didn't even reach him," said Lloyd. "He could have felt this happened in the melee that followed with all the players coming round him but I did not get to him."

Peters said: "Gary shouldn't have done it but he has been dragged over the coals and we feel his punishment is harsh. If we had video evidence and it showed Gary did it fair enough, he deserved what he got, but we don't. Paolo Di Canio didn't get this type of punishment for pushing the referee. We need some consistency and this is extremely severe."