Rugby & District Bridge League: Disciplinary Procedure - Dec 2015

Purpose:

Notwithstanding the competitive nature of league matches, players are expected to behave towards their opponents and team colleagues as befits their participation in a private social event. Players should aim, in all social respects and in the observance of the etiquette of play, to contribute towards a shared enjoyment of the game. In the event that any player fails in this obligation so far as to give offence to another, the disciplinary procedure described in this document may be invoked.

The document is written in terms of a single complainant and a single defendant, but applies equally to more than one of either.

Responsibilities:

General responsibility for establishing and, if necessary, amending the disciplinary procedure rests with the Disciplinary Committee, which consists of the disciplinary adjudicators designated by each team captain to represent their team at the start of each playing season. The procedure does not require endorsement by the Bridge League Committee, nor by a General Meeting of members.

Responsibilities for application of the procedure in any particular case are specified in the following section. These responsibilities rest with the Chairperson of the Bridge League (CBL), the Chief Disciplinary Adjudicator (CDA) and three disciplinary adjudicators appointed to form a disciplinary tribunal. The CDA is appointed at the start of the season from among their number by the disciplinary adjudicators. The three adjudicators required to form a disciplinary tribunal are appointed by the CDA, and they appoint one of their number as Disciplinary Tribunal Leader (DTL). None of the duties specified may be performed by the complainant, the defendant, or their team colleagues. If this stipulation disqualifies the CBL or the CDA, then they must delegate those duties to others.

The League Committee is responsible for the final endorsement or amendment of any recommended sanction against an offender and its imposition, and for dealing with any appeal that an offender may make against its decision. But fellow members of an offender’s team are disqualified from participation in those duties and (except for the CBL) may not delegate.

Procedure:

All persons involved should act in accordance with this procedure without delay. If it is not possible to comply promptly then a request for deferral should be made to the person in authority over that part of the process.

1. In the first instance, the offended player should try to resolve the issue directly with the offender, pointing out the nature of the offence in a calm and reasonable manner. Both offended and offender should try to achieve a satisfactory resolution without the need for a formal complaint to be registered.
2. If such a resolution cannot be achieved then the offended player should submit a formal, written complaint to the CBL, summarising all relevant details. The CBL must then either decide that the alleged offence is insufficiently serious to warrant disciplinary action, and so advise the complainant, or refer the matter to the CDA.
3. The CDA may attempt to reconcile the complainant and defendant and, if successful, will ask the complainant to notify the CBL of the outcome. But if the CDA does not choose to attempt a reconciliation, or if the complainant remains unsatisfied, the CDA will establish a Disciplinary Tribunal.
4. The CDA will appoint three designated adjudicators to a Disciplinary Tribunal, and may choose to be one of the three. The tribunal will select one of its members to be the Disciplinary Tribunal Leader (DTL), who will manage its dealings with the parties involved and with the CBL. If at any stage a tribunal member becomes unavailable the CDA will appoint a replacement from among the members of the Disciplinary Committee.
5. The DTL will notify the complainant and defendant that a tribunal has been established, drawing their attention to the procedure in this document. The DTL will copy the written complaint to the defendant and request a written response.
6. The tribunal will collect written statements of evidence from the complainant, the defendant and other parties able to provide relevant information, and will question that evidence as necessary. It will then formulate a view as to whether any unacceptable behaviour occurred during the incident that gave rise to the complaint, whether mentioned in the formal complaint or not. It will copy its provisional conclusions, together with the relevant parts of all statements of evidence, to the complainant and the defendant and any other party deemed to have offended against the expected standard of behaviour. The provisional conclusions will not include any recommendation for sanctions.
7. Recipients of the tribunal’s provisional conclusions will then have two weeks in which to register an objection. Any objection should show reason to believe that the tribunal’s view was based on incomplete evidence or was inconsistent with the evidence in significant respects. If the tribunal considers that an objection warrants further consideration, or that the available evidence is insufficiently clear, then it will arrange for a hearing to take place. Otherwise it will proceed as under item 9 below.
8. If a hearing becomes necessary then the tribunal will invite the complainant, the defendant, any other offender and all material witnesses to attend, and will offer a number of possible dates. If it proves impossible to agree a date that falls within three weeks of issuing that invitation then the tribunal will proceed, at its discretion, to a hearing in the absence of parties unable to attend. A complainant or defendant, or any other party held to have offended, may choose to be accompanied and advised by another league player provided that the DTL is given one week’s notice. The hearing will allow any party to question any other as to the facts of the case, subject to their proper conduct. The tribunal will, at its discretion, put any question raised by an invited party who has been unable to attend.  No attendee will be reimbursed for any expense entailed.
9. The tribunal will then compile a report of the evidence received, its final conclusions and recommended sanctions. It will submit its report to the CBL and copy it to the CDA, the complainant, the defendant and any other party held to have offended.
10. Finally, the CBL will put the tribunal’s report before the League Committee, which will endorse or amend any recommended sanction and ensure that it is imposed. Any amendment to the recommended sanctions will be notified to the tribunal members and to the CDA, with a brief statement of the Committee’s reasons. Any sanction imposed will be announced in a brief notice to all team captains, naming the offender and specifying the sanction.

Sanctions:

Any sanction imposed should be meaningful and enforceable. Requiring an offender to apologise is unlikely to be an appropriate sanction because it is unenforceable, and because the offender will have neglected the opportunity to shorten proceedings by apologising sooner.

The following sanctions are considered to be practical but are not exclusive,

1. A written reprimand from the CBL to the offender, with a warning that any further offence will be treated more severely.
2. Exclusion of the offender from all League fixtures in the period over which the offender’s team plays its next four matches (or other number of matches). The exclusion carries over, where necessary, into the next season and to another team, and prohibits playing as a substitute for any other team during the same period.
3. Deduction of points from the aggregate VP score of the offender’s team, e.g. 10% of the average expected total for the season. Thus, if there were 7 teams in the division, the average expected total is 120 VPs and a 10% penalty would be 12 VPs. Note: any such penalty must be discounted in the calculation of next season’s handicaps, so as not to become favourable to the offender’s team.
4. Disqualification of the offender’s team from winning any trophy in divisional competition or knockout (Open or Handicap) competition during the season.