Dorset Cricket Board

1 Disciplinary Procedure
1.1 Any alleged breach of the ECB Code of Conduct shall be notified in writing (the 'Complaint') to the
Secretary of the League. Complaints may be raised by officials of either club participating in a
match, or by appointed umpires through the medium of their routine umpire match report. Where
an individual player feels motivated to make a complaint, they should first seek the endorsement of
their club's committee. Regardless of how a complaint originates within a club, the club's secretary
should be responsible for raising the complaint formally with the league and for providing the written
submissions described below.
1.2 In the case of an ECB 1st Class registered player being the subject of a Complaint, the ECB
National Participation Manager (Leagues & Competitions) is to be advised immediately by
telephone or email from the Secretary of the League (or from the Chairman of the League or the
Chairman of the League Disciplinary Committee)1
.
1.3 The League considers that clubs can and should be the primary means of ensuring that all
matches observe the Laws of Cricket and the League Disciplinary Code. Clubs will achieve this
a) by ensuring that their constitution includes a procedure for ensuring discipline (as required
by Clubmark, for example);
b) by appointing a committee member to take responsibility for player discipline, and
c) by enforcing their disciplinary procedures rather than relying on the League doing this for
them.
1.4 On receipt of a complaint, the League Secretary shall inform the League Disciplinary Committee of
the complaint, copying to them any relevant information (for example witness statements) that
accompanied the complaint.
1.5 When reviewing a disciplinary Complaint raised by opponents or officials against a player of a
specific club, the League Disciplinary Committee shall first ask the club against which the
complaint has been made to provide details of any internal disciplinary action that the club has
already taken under its own disciplinary procedure as noted at para 1.3 above. Provided that the
penalty appears proportionate from their own experience, the League Disciplinary Committee may
decide to close the case at this point, notifying all parties concerned that the matter has been resolved
by club action.
1.6 Should the Disciplinary League Committee decide that further action on their part is necessary,
they shall contact any club that appears to have breached the Laws and/or League Code of
Conduct, and ask the secretary of that club to provide written statements from any players and club
officials as dictated by the content of the Complaint. A template for this message appears at
Appendix 1. This request shall usually require responses within 7 days of receipt of the League
Disciplinary Committee's request.
1.7 Upon receiving the club reply/replies, the League Disciplinary Committee shall then convene, and,
based on the information so far to hand decide either
a) to take no action except to record the complaint and notify the complainant; or
b) to endorse the disciplinary action taken by the club; or
c) to refer the matter for a Disciplinary Hearing which shall be convened by the League
Disciplinary Committee as soon as practicable.
1 In cases where a 1st class registered player is to be penalised the committee should carefully consider
whether a time or match ban is most appropriate and in any case no more than five specified days or
matches can be levied.
1
Should the Disciplinary Committee determine that the club has failed to implement its own disciplinary
procedure over a case, they may choose to apply an additional penalty either to the player or to the
club or to both as appropriate.
2 Disciplinary Hearing
2.1 The accused person/club should be notified of the offence(s) alleged against him/her/them and the
time and location of the hearing. The notification should be in writing, include all relevant
documentation and give at least seven days’ notice. All hearings shall be held virtually unless there
are unique circumstances that require a face-face meeting. The player and club shall be entitled to
attend the hearing, state their case (in the case of a club by its Secretary or other official), to be
supported by a colleague and to call witnesses.
2.2 The accused person is entitled to be supported by a colleague. There is no right to legal
representation but the Panel would normally permit the accused person to be legally represented.
However, the attendance or otherwise of the legal representative should not be used as a ‘delaying
tactic’. In the case of a minor it is recommended that he or she should be supported by the County
Board/League Child Welfare Officer or other appropriate adult.
2.3 The Hearing shall be conducted by the League Disciplinary Committee which shall consist of not
less than three persons, none of whom shall be connected with the player, the club or their
opponents at the time of the alleged breach.
3 Penalties
3.1 If at the hearing the Disciplinary Committee finds the alleged offence proved it shall have the power
to impose one or more of the following penalties, together with such order as to costs as it deems
appropriate:
3.2 In the case of a player:
a) To require the player to submit appropriate letter(s) of apology within a specified time.
b) To record a reprimand and to give a warning as to future conduct.
c) To impose a fine (not to exceed £500)
d) To suspend the player for one or more specified matches or for a stated period of time,
e) To deduct League points from the player’s team.
f) To expel the player from the League.
Any suspension (unless there has been a proven case involving violence, section 5.3 ) will come into
effect 7 days after the club has been notified of the suspension.
3.3 In the case of a club:
a) To require the club to submit appropriate letter(s) of apology within a specified time.
b) To record a reprimand and to give a warning as to future conduct.
c) To impose a fine.
d) To deduct League points from the club’s team(s)
e) To relegate to any lower division of the League.
f) To expel the club from any competition of the League.
g) To expel the club from the League.
3.4 The Disciplinary Committee shall have the power to suspend the operation of any part, or all, of the
penalty it imposes for such period and subject to such terms and conditions it deems appropriate.
2
3.5 Decisions of the Disciplinary Committee (a finding that a complaint is proved or not proved or a
decision on penalty) shall be by majority vote; where necessary the Panel Chairman shall have a
casting vote.
3.6 In the case of a registered player the result of the hearing should be communicated within 24 hours
in writing, preferably by email, to the ECB National Participation Manager (Leagues &
Competitions), the PCA and County Cricket Club.
4 Appeals Procedure
4.1 A player or club shall have the right of appeal to the Appeals Committee. A Notice of Appeal setting
out the grounds must be given in writing to the Secretary of the League within seven days of the
decision of the Disciplinary Committee, together with a deposit of £ 50. Valid grounds for an Appeal
include:
a) that the player or club brings substantive new evidence that had not been presented at the
first hearing, or
b) that the player of club is able to show, by reference to similar cases in the past, that the
penalty applied was disproportionate.
4.2 Once a Notice of Appeal has been received, the penalty shall not take effect until the Appeal has
been reviewed and a decision made. The Appeal hearing shall take place as soon as is
practicable.
4.3 The Appeal shall be by way of re-hearing before a different Committee. All appeal hearings shall be
held virtually unless there are unique circumstances that require a face-face meeting.The
composition of the Committee shall be at the discretion of the Chairman of the League or of the
League Disciplinary Committee and shall consist of not less than three persons, none of whom
shall be connected with the player, the Club or their opponents at the time of the alleged breach.
The player or club shall have the same rights of attendance and representation, and to call
witnesses as they had before the Disciplinary Committee.
4.4 The Appeals Committee may confirm, vary or reverse the decision of the Disciplinary Committee
and it shall have the power to increase the penalty and award costs of the Appeal hearing.
Decisions of the Appeal Panel shall be by majority vote; where necessary, the Chairman shallhave
a casting vote. If neither of the conditions noted above in paragraph 4.1 are fully met, then the
cash deposit shall be forfeit, and the Disciplinary Committee is likely to increase the penalty over
that already applied.
4.5 The decision of the Appeals Committee or, if no appeal, of the Disciplinary Committee, shall be
final and binding unless in the case of a registered player, where the player may appeal to the
Chairman of the Cricket Discipline Commission who will consider the case under the Rules and
Regulations of the ECB.
4.6 The Appeal Panel can confirm the Disciplinary Panel’s decision, vary it or reverse it. It has the
power to increase the penalty and award costs.
4.7 The decision of the Appeal Panel and if appropriate the penalty should be communicated to the
accused person/club in writing within 21 days.
3
5 Sentencing Guidelines
The following are guidelines to sentencing policy which may be used by Disciplinary Panels in
determining the appropriate sentence in any individual case. The guidelines provide a method of
considering individual cases but are not a tariff and should not be considered as such. Only a
Disciplinary Panel can decide on the penalty appropriate to any individual case.
5.1 Players’ Behaviour In the event of any player failing to comply with the instructions of an umpire,
criticising his decision by word or action, showing dissent, or generally behaving in a manner which
might bring the game into disrepute, the umpire concerned shall in the first place report the matter
to the other umpire and to the player’s captain, requesting the latter to take action.
Breaches of paragraph 1.2.5 of the Spirit of the Game should automatically be reported as soon as
reasonably practicable by the umpires to the executive of the club concerned and to any Governing
Body responsible for the match. Such breaches will be treated seriously and are likely to result in
suspension.
5.2 Accumulated Bad Behaviour Repeated infringements by an individual of the Spirit of the Game
(where it is decided that each infringement in itself does not merit any immediate disciplinary
action), should always result in a Disciplinary Hearing. Taking into account captains’ responsibilities
as set out in paragraph 1.1.2 of the Model Discipline Regulations, repeated infringements by a
team are likely to result in the captain being held responsible for the conduct of his team(whether
or not individual players are also identified for disciplinary action) and being called before a
Disciplinary Hearing. The penalties available includes suspension.
When issuing the penalty, the Disciplinary Panel may take account of instances of poor team discipline
in previous years, particularly where the on-the-field captain is the same. Leagues shall ensure that
captains understand their responsibility for the “on the field” behaviour of themselves and their team
members. If suspension is the penalty, this will normally take effect immediately.
5.3 Violence There is no place for any act of violence on the field of play. Proven cases of violent
conduct against an official will inevitably result in a lengthy term of suspension. Violence against a
spectator or another player will also result in suspension, the length depending upon the
circumstances. Suspensions for any case involving violence will commence immediately.
5.4 Discriminatory Abuse Players and team officials must not make discriminatory (ie on the grounds
of race, religion, gender or disability) comments nor indulge in discriminatory actions against fellow
players, officials, members and supporters. Discriminatory comments or actions will result in
suspension, the length depending upon the circumstances.
5.5 Drugs It is ECB’s policy that there should be no distinction drawn between ‘performance
enhancing’ and ‘recreational’ drugs. Use or distribution of illegal drugs by players or team officials
is a breach of the ECB Code of Conduct.
5.6 Appropriateness of Penalties In all cases and for all offences, an admission of guilt will almost
certainly result in a lesser sentence being imposed than if the matter is contested – credit being
given for the admission. Plainly, the extent of the credit to be given will depend upon all the
circumstances of the case, including how early the admission of guilt is made, but, save possibly in
the most trivial of cases, it will not normally be such as to change the nature of the penalty or to
bring about total suspension of the penalty. Whatever penalties are applied should be applied with
consistency. Fines are normally more appropriate for individual breaches of regulations or the
Code of Conduct. Points penalties are normally more appropriate in the case of a Club or where a
significant number of the team have contributed to the breach. It is likely that cases of accumulated
bad behaviour and cases of violent conduct will result in a suspension of at least four weeks.
5.7 Notifications Details of all individual and club bans/penalties, which result from League
disciplinary action, will be published on the League website. Suspensions of four weeks’ duration
4
or above should be reported by the League to their nominated County Board for national
circulation. Players should understand that suspensions of this length will normally apply to all
cricket played under the auspices of ECB. Leagues should notify their nominated County Board of
a four week suspension or above upon expiry of the seven day period within which notification of
intent to appeal should be made or, in the case of an appeal, immediately upon conclusion of the
appeal hearing. Leagues should notify the ECB National Participation Manager (Leagues &
Competitions) within seven days of any disciplinary action taken against an ECB 1st Class
registered player.
5.8 Reciprocity The League will honour the suspensions of players and clubs made by other cricket
Leagues, provided that those Leagues have an established disciplinary policy. Furthermore, the
League will ask for reciprocation on suspensions with other Leagues.
5.9 Compliance The Chairmen of all clubs, participating in any competition administered by the
League Management Committee are required to sign a declaration that the League Code of
Conduct will be adhered to throughout their club.
5
Appendix 1:
Standard letter requesting statements from club secretaries
Dorset Cricket League Disciplinary Committee
Point of contact:
Investigation members:
Date
Home team vs Away team, dd-mmm-yyyy
Dear club secretaries,
The League Disciplinary Committee is investigating apparent breaches of the Dorset Cricket League
Disciplinary Code at the above match that were described in the umpires' written report.
The incidents were:
1. Brief description of incident, noting which rule appeared to have been breached.
2. Additional incident as above
Can both club secretaries please reply, letting me know of any disciplinary action that they have
already taken over these events, and the penalties that have been imposed?
I wish to request the following written statements within 7 days of receipt of this. Statements must be
brief and concentrate on the specifics requested.
Person Role in match Statement sought
Home Capt Home captain Brief overview of events, description of actions he took before and
during match to ensure players comply with Regulation 1.2.4 Away Capt Away captain
Player 1 Team A
Player 2 Team B
Yours sincerely