Click here for a copy of the RFU Discipline Report Form (sending off).

All reports must be sent to David Nicholson.
Please send by email to David Nicholson

Following the introduction of new dicipline report procedures, here is a link to
Guidlines for Dicipline Report Writing to assist referees.

The extract below comes from the New England Rugby Referees' Society website

Ejections and Avoiding Them

We hope that all your games will go smoothly. We hope that you will never have to eject a player. But sooner or later we expect that you will. As your officiating skills improve, you will get better at preventing problems in player discipline. This note will provide you with information on paperwork for ejections, what to do after you've ejected a player, what to do when ejecting a player, what to do when cautioning a player, and best of all how to avoid all of the above. Remember, you are supposed to be a calming influence on the field.

Paperwork

If you eject a player during any game, you must report the incident to the Society and the Union.

Your report should be on our "Disciplinary Report" form. It should include the following information: Player's Name, Position, Club, Nature of Offense, teams involved, time into match of incident, score at time of incident, date, captains' names,weather and field conditions, general pattern of play, details of the incident itself, including whether any formal or informal cautions had been issued to either team prior to the incident.

You should provide a straightforward accounting of the events that lead up to the ejection. Short sentences using simple English should suffice to describe any events that happen on a rugby pitch. Avoid editorializing, embellishing, or guessing motives. Just stick to the facts. If you include information that you obtained from others (hearsay), note it as such and name the source. Further contact with an ejected player after a match may also be discussed; sometimes players are apologetic and fully understand that they were out-of-line and sometimes they continue to be belligerent.

If you wish to make a recommendation about what you consider to be a suitable sanction, do so in a separate letter, and not within the report itself. It is the Disciplinary Committee's job to decide what is appropriate. For this reason, you cannot make promises to an ejected player that he will ony be suspended for a week or two.

There are very few types of action that should lead to an ejection without a caution. My personal list includes a blind side punch to the back of the head, kicking a player on the ground, stamping a player on the ground, an incapacitating clothesline tackle to a star wing, and coming onto the pitch drunk (if you notice this before the first kick-off, request a substitute player).

If you are witness to unsavory actions by a member of the rugby community that cannot or does not result in an ejection you should also report these. These could happen during a game, such as an off-field club member initiating a fight with a player, or a coach behaving in an unusually unsportsmanlike manner. Destruction of facilities or fighting at the post-game festivities are other examples of reportable actions.

File all of your reports promptly. If there will be any delay, contact a member of the Committee. Since clubs may choose to appeal, they will want the Disciplinary Committee to rule quickly.

The above discussion should convince you of the importance of concentrating on preventing disciplinary problems on the field.

Ejecting a Player

Should you have to eject a player, do so slowly and calmly. Do not lecture the player you are ejecting; there is nothing left for him/her to do but leave the pitch. Resist your own anger. In practice, few of us totally succeed at this. Do not let the game start up immediately. Make sure the teams are fully separated. Take time to talk to the captains. Give them time to talk to their teams. Allow time for everyone's adrenalin level to drop. This is will help you avoid further incidents in that game.

Should you have the extreme misfortune of ejecting a captain, ask him/her to appoint a replacement before he leaves the pitch. If conversation with the captain is impossible, approach the team as a group and ask them to come together and select a captain. Since you should have recorded the names of both captains on your scorecard before the start of the game, you won't need to ask for a name.

Take a moment to record any information you will need for your report. Get the names of any players involved from their captains. Note the time of the incident and the score at that time. Feel free to take a moment to make some notes while the captains are presenting to their teams any calming message you have sent.

After the game, remind the captain of the ejected player and the ejected player that NERFU policy imposes an automatic one game suspension (next regularly scheduled meeting of that club with another) for which there is no appeal. The only exception is if you, the referee, believe that you made a genuine mistake and that the player did not commit the offense for which [you] had ordered him/her off'.

Unless you fear for your safety, do not go running off immediately after a game in which you have ejected a player. As much as possible, try to have your normal post-game conversations. If an ejected player wishes to explain himself, listen, don't argue. Accept apologies gracefully. If a team pleads with you not to file a report, let them know that you have no choice and can yourself be disciplined if you don't file. You can appear sympathetic.

Cautioning a Player

Just as one should avoid ejections, one should avoid formal cautions that might prematurely lead to ejection. Cautions come in various levels of specificity. If a player commits an offense covered by the caution, they must be ejected. So, you don't want to give a general caution to both teams for anyone throwing a punch this backs you into a corner. Keep cautions specific and limit the number of players cautioned.

Note that sin-binning a player is equivalent to cautioning him/her - if s/he offends again, s/he must be ejected. Thus when you sin-bin a player, you must deliver the formal caution, preferably in front of both captains, so that there will be no confusion as to what constitutes a repeat offense. Be specific.

When you formally caution a player, take a moment to record the time, the reason, and the number of the player. If the player does not have a number obtain his/her name from the player or his/her captain. If tempers are hot, take time giving the caution. You may want to allow the captains to talk to their teams. Remember, time wasted here is time well spent. Allow adrenalin levels to drop.

There are many things that a referee can say that sound like a caution that are not. For example "I'm warning you that I will not tolerate any more barging in the lineout'' is not a caution. Neither is "Any more punching will be treated severely''. Once I told some nonplaying members of a club who were harrasing throwers on lineouts, "This is unsportsmanlike conduct and it will stop''; with the right tone of voice, it works. (You cannot penalize a team for actions committed by nonplaying club members. You can, however, get names and file a report with the Disciplinary Committee and you can also threaten to do so.)

Remember, the purpose of a caution is to prevent further problems, not to create ejections.

Avoiding Ejections

Already, much of the discussion of cautions and ejections was on their avoidance. Remember to practice preventive refereeing. When you warn someone about an illegal or dangerous action, make sure the offended party also hears your warning so as to prevent retaliation. Watch for foul play away from the ball. Even if you play advantage on an instance of foul play do not let the players think it has gone unnoticed.

Use informal warnings as needed. Formal cautions should be used sparingly and should be specific. Take time when giving a caution for a violent act to allow tempers to cool. If you overhear a player (including the captain) inciting his team mates to violence or retaliation, call the captain aside and make him deliver a message to his team that this will not be tolerated. Should you eject a player, allow time for tempers to cool and captains to talk to their teams. This might help prevent further trouble. Do not eject a player because you are angry, but only if the player deserves it.

Though it is not the fault of the referee if the players behave like thugs, there is much that good refereeing can do to inhibit the baser instincts of some players without shutting down the game. If you are calm and in control, you improve the chances that the players will remain calm and in control.

May all your games be incident free.

Prepared by Mark Handel, 5/92.

Edited by AMM 9/98