Disciplinary Team Update – October 24

Sadly, we’ve already had 9 Red Cards to handle this season including some which were during the warm up friendlies – not an auspicious start to the season.

The new discipline regulations, Regulation 19, have now been published. Can you please ensure that your Club takes the opportunity to read and thereby review your internal Club process so that they are in line with them. A written and defined process is best practice and will expedite matters should you end up on the wrong side of a red card.

Talking of expediting Red Cards the RFU would like to see them being heard and resolved more promptly. Looking at things it does still seem that the major delay in processing them occurs at Club level. So, in your internal processes please set a time frame and then stick to it.

Please remember the longer it takes to reach the NLD Panel the longer it takes to be completed and potentially the longer that player is on the sidelines. Sometimes it takes longer to the reach the Panel than the sanction finally awarded which is unfair on the subject to the process their fellow players and the Club’s members and supporters. Once Red Carded, they can’t play again until given a play by date by the Discipline Secretary.

One final piece of guidance to Club Panels if you want to award mitigation to a player then ‘he’s a good chap’ is meaningless – to award mitigation you have to be specific as to why’s ‘he’s a good chap’. Think that it has to be objectively meaningful to someone who may have never met them before.