RUGBY ALBERTA

DISCIPLINE GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES

JURISDICTION

1.1           This discipline policy covers all matters regarding discipline of individual persons registered in the Rugby Alberta and playing within the geographical boundaries and jurisdiction of Rugby Alberta.

1.2           This discipline policy shall not cover games played within the geographical boundaries of Rugby Alberta, but played under the jurisdiction, management procedures and the expectations of the IRB or Rugby Canada. 

DISCIPLINE BOARD

2.1           There shall be two Boards of Discipline, one for each of the Edmonton and Calgary Rugby Unions, each Board to be comprised of a Director to be appointed from the Board of Directors of the respective sub-unions and five members to be selected by the Director, no two of whom shall be from the same club. The Director shall be a sitting member of the Board of Directors of the respective sub-union.

INITIATING DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES

3.1                 The ordering off of a participant by the referee of the match initiates the requirement of a suspension determination and the participant ordered off is suspended from participation until further notice from the Director of Discipline or their designate.

3.2           The receipt of a written report from an interested party shall, if in the opinion of the Director of Discipline merit further consideration, and upon confirmation by the Director of Discipline that the referee of the match did not see the incident in question, result in the imposition of a suspension by the Director of Discipline.

3.3           Offensive or abusive conduct towards the sub-union or provincial union executive, referees, touch judges, players and other spectators or participants in the game of Rugby at any event held under the jurisdiction of either sub-union or the provincial union may result in sanctions being imposed against the offending party and/or their Club (Refer to 16.4 Rugby Alberta Rules and Regulations). 

REFEREE’S REPORT

4.1                 The referee who orders a participant off shall as soon as possible after completion of the match, and in any event within 48 hours of completion of the match, forward to the Director of Discipline a referee’s report in the form attached as Schedule “A”. 

4.2                 Should a referee order a player off the field after receiving input from a Touch Judge it is also the touch judge’s responsibility to, as soon as possible after completion of the match, and in any event within 48hours of completion of the match, forward an additional report (i.e in addition to the report mentioned in 4.1 above) to the Director of Discipline.  This second report is in the form of a touch judge’s report also attached as Schedule “A”. 

SUSPENSION DETERMINATION

5.1           Upon receipt of the referee’s report the Director of the Board of Discipline shall review the report and determine the appropriate level of suspension in accordance with the schedule of suspension guidelines attached hereto as Schedule “B”.

5.2           The Director of Discipline shall after the determination of the level of suspension pursuant to 5.1 above, review the respective sub-union’s discipline records over the past 365 days from the date of the ordering off to determine if the suspended person has been suspended within that time frame, and if so, then the suspended person’s suspension shall be altered as follows:

i.              If there has been one other suspension within the past 365 days the level of suspension shall be doubled

ii.             If there have been two other suspensions within the past 365 days the level of suspension shall be tripled

5.3           Upon determination of the appropriate level of suspension, the Director of Discipline shall notify the designated contact of the suspended person’s club of the level of suspension and provide the designated contact with a copy of the referee’s report.

CALCULATION OF SUSPENSION PERIOD

6.1           The first game of the suspension is deemed to be the suspended person’s club’s first game in the same division following the game in which the suspension arose and shall be calculated on the regular and playoff games in the division in which the suspension occurred, together with representative games which the suspended person was chosen to play in, but shall not include in the calculation any tournament games which the suspended person’s club partakes in.

6.2           The person suspended pursuant to this policy shall be suspended from participation as a player, coach or official in all organized play of rugby until the designated number of games for the suspension pursuant to this policy have been served.

6.3           Where a person suspended pursuant to this policy leaves the jurisdiction of the Rugby Alberta and participates in the game of rugby elsewhere the determination of the completion of the suspension shall include regular season and playoff games from that rugby union provided that other union will verify in writing that the suspended person was registered and participated in that other union following the conclusion of their suspension pursuant to this policy.

6.4           Suspensions under this policy shall continue in effect during any Discipline or Appeal Hearings held pursuant to this policy.

DISCIPLINE HEARING

7.1           The designated contact of the suspended person’s club shall have ninety six (96) hours from the receipt of notice of suspension to advise the Director of Discipline in writing of their intention to have a discipline hearing held with respect to the ordering off.

7.2           The Director of Discipline shall upon receipt of the notice of intention to have a discipline hearing held, forthwith schedule a discipline hearing to be held within 7 days of receipt of the notice of intention to hold a discipline hearing.

7.3           The Discipline Hearing Board shall consist of the Director of Discipline or their designate and two members of the Board of Discipline.

7.4                 The parties entitled to be present at the discipline hearing shall be:

i.              The suspended person

ii.             The referee, or as the case may be, the interested party

iii.                  The representative of the suspended person’s club

7.5           The evidence considered by the Discipline Hearing Board shall be:

i.              The referee’s, or as the case may be, the interested party’s written report

ii.             The referee’s, or as the case may be, the interested party’s verbal submissions

iii.            The verbal submissions of the suspended person

iv.            The verbal submissions of the suspended person’s team

v.             Video tape of the game in question, provided the tape is a continuous, unedited copy of the entire game, from the opening kick off to the game’s conclusion, without video stoppage except for half-time

7.6           After having heard all of the evidence presented, the Discipline Hearing Board shall retire to consider the evidence and render a verbal decision within thirty (30) minutes, or if they consider it necessary to further to review the evidence, a written decision within forty-eight (48) hours, in each case communicated to the designated contact of the subject person’s club.

APPEAL HEARING

8.1           The designated contact for the suspended person’s club shall have forty-eight (48) hours from receipt of the notice of the decision of the Discipline Board to notify the Director of Discipline in writing of their intention to appeal the decision.

8.2           Upon receipt of the notice of intention to appeal the decision of the Appeal Board, the Director of Discipline shall forthwith advise the President of the respective sub-union of the Notice of Appeal and thereafter the executive of the respective sub-union Board shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the appeal.

8.3           The President of the respective sub-union, or their designate and two other members of the respective sub-union Board shall hear the appeal of the decision of the Discipline Board.

8.4           The President of the respective sub-union, or their designate, shall upon receipt of the notice of appeal forthwith schedule an appeal hearing to be held within 7 days of receipt of the notice of appeal by the President, or their designate.

8.5           The parties entitled to be present at the Appeal Hearing shall be:

i.              The suspended person

ii.             The representative of the suspended person’s club

iii.            The Director of Discipline, or their designate

8.6           The evidence to be considered by the Appeal Board may include:

i.              The report of the Director of Discipline

ii.             The referee’s, or as the case may be, the interested party’s written report

iii.            The verbal representation’s of the suspended person

iv.            The verbal representation’s of the suspended person’s club representative

v.             Any video evidence presented at the discipline hearing

8.7           After having heard all of the evidence presented, the Appeal Board shall retire to consider the evidence and render a verbal decision within thirty (30) minutes, or if they consider it necessary to further review the evidence, a written decision within forty-eight (48) hours, in each case communicated to the designate contact of the suspended person’s club and to the Director of Discipline.

CONDUCT OF HEARINGS

9.1           The referee’s, or as the case may be, the interested party’s written report shall be read and the referee, or as the case may be, the interested party shall make any comments they may wish to add thereto.  The suspended person shall make their statement.  The representative of the suspended person’s club shall be called to make their representations.  It is to be noted that only the chairman and other members of the board may question the parties at the hearing, however the suspended person may request the chairman to put questions to the parties at the hearing with a view to clarifying the written report, but in the case of a referee’s report not to challenge its truth as the referee’s report shall be taken to be the truth in all instances in accordance with Law 6.A.5 of the IRB Laws of the Game of Rugby.

CASH DEPOSITS

10.1              In the event an appeal of the original determination of suspension by the Director of Discipline is made, the party appealing shall deposit with the respective sub-union the following sum of money:

i.              In the case of a request for a discipline hearing, the sum of

ONE HUNDRED   ($100.00) DOLLARS

ii.             In the case of an appeal of the decision of the Discipline Board, the sum of

TWO HUNDRED ($200.00) DOLLARS

10.2         The cash deposit referred to in paragraph 10.1 above shall only be refunded to the appealing party in the event the appeal reduces the level of suspension originally imposed by the Director of Discipline.

NOTICES

11.1              All notices required to be given pursuant to these discipline policies and procedures shall be given by fax, email or personal delivery as follows:

i.              To the Director of Discipline at the address listed for the Director in the Rugby Alberta Handbook

ii.                    To the designated contact of each club as listed in the Rugby Alberta Handbook

11.2              Service of notice pursuant to these policies and procedures shall be deemed to be received at:

i.              The time on the Director of Discipline’s fax transmitted sheet if faxed in normal working hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) on regular working days

ii.             At 8:30 a.m. on the next business day following transmission after business hours

iii.            In the case of personal service, at the time of actual service

MISCELLANEOUS

12.1         The Director of Discipline and the Board of Discipline shall not in any instance reconsider a decision that they make after a discipline hearing as outlined in Article 7.

12.2.1         The Director of Discipline and the Board of Discipline shall only have the authority to consider discipline matters beyond the scope of incidents revolving around an actual game where specifically directed to do so by the President of the respective sub-unions, or their designate.

Suspension Guidelines

NOTE:   

The following document, “Schedule B” identifies IRB suspension guidelines.  The actual level of suspension may vary depending upon the individual circumstances pertaining to the incident and the offender’s previous disciplinary record.

1                     New IRB Recommended Sanctions for Offences within the Playing Enclosure (Regulation 17)

At its November Interim Meeting, the IRB Council approved the following new table of sanctions for foul play.

Description	Entry Point Based on Scale of Seriousness of the Player’s conduct, which constitutes the offending. Lower End (LE), Mid Range (MR), Top End (TE).	Maximum Sanction
Physical Abuse of Match Officials	LE – 6 months; MR – 24 months; TE – 5 years.	Life
Threatening Actions or Words at Match Officials	LE – 3 months; MR – 12 months; TE – 24 months.	36 Months
Contact with Eyes or the Eye Area	LE – 3 months; MR – 9 months; TE – 18 months.	24 Months
Biting	LE – 6 months; MR – 12 months; TE – 24 months.	36 Months
Testicle Grabbing or Twisting or Squeezing	LE – 3 months; MR – 9 months; TE – 12 months.	24 Months
Kicking an Opponent	LE – 3 months; MR – 9 months; TE – 12 months.	18 Months
Stamping on an Opponent	LE – 1 month; MR – 3 months; TE – 9 months.	12 Months
Trampling an Opponent	LE – 1 month; MR – 3 months; TE – 9 months.	12 months
Illegal rucking of an Opponent	LE – 2 weeks; MR – 6 weeks; TE – 3 months.	6 months
Dangerous charging or obstructing or grabbing of opponent without the ball, including shouldering	LE – 2 weeks; MR – 3 months; TE – 6 months.	12 Months
Dangerous charging or obstructing or grabbing of opponent carrying the ball, including shouldering	LE  - 2 weeks; MR – 3 months; TE – 6 months.	12 Months
Striking with Head	LE – 6 weeks; MR – 6 months TE – 12 months	24 Months
Striking with Knee	LE – 2 weeks; MR – 3 months; TE – 6 months.	12 Months
Striking another Player hand, arm, fist including the elbow.	LE – 2 weeks; MR – 3 months; TE – 6 months.	12 Months
Dangerous tackling of an opponent including early or late and including the action known as the “stiff arm tackle”.	LE – 2 weeks; MR – 6 weeks; TE – 3 months.	6 Months
To trip an opponent with the foot/leg.	LE – 1 week; MR – 4 weeks; TE – 6 weeks.	3 Months

To hold, push, charge, obstruct an opponent not holding the ball except in a scrum, ruck or maul.	LE – 1 week; MR – 3 weeks; TE – 4 weeks.	6 Weeks
To cause a scrum, ruck or maul to collapse.	LE – 1 week; MR –3 weeks; TE – 6 weeks.	3 Months
Verbal abuse of opponents whether based on race, creed, colour or otherwise.	LE – 2 weeks; MR – 2 months; TE – 4 months.	6 Months
Spitting at Players	LE – 1 month; MR – 3 months; TE – 6 months.	6 Months

Notwithstanding the above, in cases where the player’s actions constitute serious Illegal and/or Foul Play for any type of offence which had the potential to result and, in fact, did result in serious/gross consequences to the health of the victim, the Judicial Officers and/or Disciplinary Committees may impose any period of suspension including a suspension for life.

For the full Regulation, including definitions of Lower End (LE), Mid Range (MR) and Top End (TE), go to http://www.irb.com/NR/rdonlyres/5C747A74-C2BA-40A6-AAF6-FF4451C6C5AA/0/041221NWIRBRegulation17.pdf