Junior/Youth Help with when to use Dissent/Sinbin

Just had my first game since 2018, an u18s game. When I was a ref before dissent wasn't a thing so I have never had to use it. I made myself familiar with the rules, but there seems to be some guidelines lacking on when to actually use it.

Had many incidents where players from one team would shout "We'll have that ref" when I wasn't giving a foul.
Gave a penalty for handball (I admit I think I got it wrong). All the defending players crowding around me telling me I got it wrong, I told them all I was giving what I saw, but they were still disagreeing. There were about 5 or so players still arguing and it felt wrong to sinbin them all.
One player came up to me and said "How is that not a foul?" and I told him to accept it or I will sinbin him, he tried to argue again but one of his teammates told him to accept it and walk away.
At half time I said to both teams separately I have had enough of the backchat and if it continued I will start to sinbin. Which calmed the game down a little.

There was no foul language towards me, no offensive language or aggression in the complaints. So I am unsure if I was correct in not applying any dissent to any players.

Is there any advice from refs who do youth games that have given dissent on when to use it?

Yesterday I overruled a club assistant offside and let a goal stand (he wasn't looking, was 15 yards out of position and the defence shouted to him to get the flag up).

A few players got extremely angry and started badgering me. I explained the incident to them and tried to move on, one of them proceeded to continue to nag, and make comments throughout play.

He never really said anything ridiculous but he wouldn't move on and was the center of all the complaints. The temperature was starting to rise and there he goes, continuing to bring up the offside.

I just stopped the game. Sin binned him and moved on.

xhemal said:

Is there any advice from refs who do youth games that have given dissent on when to use it?

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No difference in my mind between any age level and applying sin bins.

I'll talk to you and advise you if you are getting close to my threshold. If you don't take my advise then off you pop. See you in 10 minutes. Or 8.

It sounds like your half time chat did the job, but why wait. If it's escalating then have that chat earlier.

xhemal said:

There were about 5 or so players still arguing and it felt wrong to sinbin them all.

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You don't need to do them all. Pick the worst offender. Tell him you are sin binning them. The others are likely to get the message quite quickly. If they don't then they are total fools and absolutely deserve to follow their friend for a sit down.

If you don't know who to choose, then draw a line (metaphorically) and tell them to stay where they are. Step backwards and those that follow you arguing are your first picks for the card. They are already showing dissent by action by following you when asked not to.

Did you need to retake the exam and course, or have you remained registered as a referee throughout? If you retook the course, the handling of dissent should have been clarified.
The FA guidance is at https://www.englandfootball.com/participate/explore/inclusive-football/Respect/sin-bins as you may have already found.
Dissent was always in the game, it's the use of Sin Bins which has been introduced since your previous involvement.
Dissent is essentially a player disagreeing verbally or by action with a decision of the referee or assistant referee. Your tolerance level will be different to everyone else's, so don't look for a definitive explanation. Handling dissent can be affected by the temperature of the game and/or the manner of the disagreement being shown (e. g. "Are you sure, ref?" on its own may not end in a Sin Bin, whereas a shout of "That's a joke decision, referee" does warrant a 8 or 10 minute break)
Any use of offensive, insulting or abusive language or actions should result in a dismissal.

Actually sounds like you managed the game well.

Personally, if there is a player publicly showing dissent so everyone can hear it or see it, it's an easy decision for me to sinbin.

Apart form that, I tend to warn players first if they are at risk of going to the sinbin to give them a chance to reconsider, if they carry on, again, it's an easy decision to me.

If a group of players or a play wants to run after me to show his distain at my decision or if players surround me, then again it's an easy sinbin.

The biggest problem you may face is that referees have different thresholds as suggested above. Referees also have their own opinions about sinbins and just don't use them making it harder for you.

You tend to get a feel for it in my experience.

Best of luck