The panel heard Mr Roper’s inappropriate behaviour was alleged to have started in 2017, when he sent text messages that “could have been deemed inappropriate” to a 15-year-old girl.
Following an investigation, the concerns were recorded as unsubstantiated and the matter was eventually closed with the FA in January 2018.
After reapplying for a criminal record check and completing a new safeguarding children workshop and learning and reflection form, he started as a trainee teacher.
Then, in 2022, four children raised concerns about Mr Roper to senior players and a manager at a football club before they were again reported to the FA.
The panel heard he touched a child’s bottom, called her “babe”, and sent suggestive texts and emojis to her about her wearing a bikini and “short shorts” in front of him.
“I wasn’t complaining…or looking, just a peek,” he said, alongside emojis including a peach – a text exchange he admitted to but said was “banter” or “as a joke”.
But the child, whom he also contacted through social media, stated that this made her “feel uncomfortable, self-conscious and that she wanted to give up football”.