5. Disciplinary Policy

Disciplinary Procedures

The Saracens Amateur RFC Disciplinary Panel exists to deal with issues arising from:

• Incidents occurring on the field of play reported through the RFU process
• (such as red cards)
• Incidents that have occurred where Club Members have been in breach of the
• Club’s Codes of Conduct, the Club’s Equity Policy or the Club’s Child Safeguarding policy
• Any other matters referred to it by the General Committee of the Club

The Terms of Reference and the Procedures of the Club Disciplinary Panel are set out in the attached document.

Usage of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Club website forums

This is a topical subject elsewhere but also in terms of Club / County disciplinary issues.

RFU Rule 5.12 relates “to conduct prejudicial to the interests of the Union or the Game “ and the Herts RFU Disciplinary Committee have dealt with 5 cases under this Rule during Season 2010/11 of which 2 were for the offence of match official abuse via the internet.

There is a growth in the use of internet as a means to communicate and this can include match reports commenting on the performance of opponents and/or match officials. Some of these comments have been abusive. For a comment to be abusive it does not need to contain foul language. A comment that denigrates someone is abusive and is a breach of RFU Rule 5.12 in that it is prejudicial to the Game. For example, a posting on a club website, comparing a match official to a cartoon character.

Disciplinary committees (RFU, CB, and Club) are responsible for all discipline within the game and required to investigate and sanction as necessary all breaches of the Laws of the Game and the Regulations of the RFU. This includes the “policing” of off the field discipline.

We as a Club are directly responsible for anything that appears on our own websites and if we operate open forums on these sites they must be policed carefully by the Club to avoid anything that could be considered a breach of rule 5.12. We as a Club can be disciplined if we allow this to occur on our website.

Furthermore although a Club cannot be held responsible for what an individual may put on private social websites e.g. Facebook or Twitter. However, if such comments are reported to the County Disciplinary Committee, the Club will be asked to help identify the member(s) breaching the Rule so that they may be brought before the CB Disciplinary Committee.