HBL Disciplinary Rules

1. League Disciplinary Committee

The League Disciplinary Committee (LDC), as defined in the Constitution of the HBA, handles all disciplinary matters regarding Herts Basketball League (HBL), Cup and Play-Off matches. It will be formed of the current League Committee plus any other co-opted members as the League Committee sees fit.

2. Disciplinary Actions

Clubs, players, coaches and team followers or officials may be fined and/or suspended for any matter as decided by the LDC. A fine of up to £75 may be imposed for any offence. The LDC may take such action concerning any game it considers fit.

It is the clubs' responsibility to manage/discipline spectators. The League will only look at potential action should it feel insufficient action has been taken by the club/clubs involved.

3. Payment of Fines

(a) All fines must be paid by bank transfer within seven days of notification unless under appeal.

(b) The fined individual cannot play, coach, or attend any games until the fine is paid and has been confirmed as received by the league secretary.

(c) Notifying fines or other penalties will be emailed from the league email account to the contact emails provided by the club/clubs in question.

(d) Any club with outstanding fines at the AGM may not have its application for the following season accepted.

(e) If a club leaves the League with outstanding debts, its registered players will not be allowed to play in any HBL competitions until their share of the debt is paid.

4. Disqualification

If a player, coach, or team follower is disqualified from any match, the person(s) concerned shall be suspended for the next game played by their club in the HBL, including spectating or acting as a match official.

There will be no fine for a first DQ but a £25 fine for any later DQ during the penalty period.

Written reports from the match officials will only be requested for straight disqualifications.

There is no appeal for disqualification via 2 x T1 or Flagrant foul

5. Disrepute

The League Disciplinary Officer (LDO) may take disciplinary action about any matter it considers liable to bring the game into disrepute.

6. Appeal

(a) All clubs, players and officials shall have the right to appeal to the HBL via the League Disciplinary Officer (LDO).

(b) Any appeal must come from the club and not the individual and must have the support of the club confirmed within the appeal.

(c) On receipt of an appeal, the HBL may, at the request of the appellant, authorise the decision of the LDO to be suspended until the appeal is heard. If the HBL believes no such suspension should be imposed, they shall notify the Team Secretary (by phone or email).

(d) Due to the time-sensitive nature of appeals, appeal discussions may be held via Zoom, WhatsApp or any other media considered appropriate by the Appeal Chair.

(e) The Appeal Panel shall not contain any of the Disciplinary Panel responsible for the original decision. Non-Committee members may be co-opted at any time by the Appeal Chair.

7. Conflict of Interest

If a Committee member is personally involved in any matter (e.g., match officials, member of an opposing club), they shall not participate in the disciplinary or appeal committee.

8. Power of Interpretation

The League Committee shall have the power to decide any matters not covered by those above.

9. Award of Disciplinary Points

(a) Each T1 foul shall receive four penalty points.

(b) Each Flagrant foul shall receive four penalty points.

(c) An ejection for any combination of T1 or Flagrant fouls will carry an automatic one match ban, £20 fine, and no further disciplinary points.

This can be 2 x T1 fouls, 2 x Flagrant fouls, or one of each.

(e) Players/coaches may receive cumulative penalty points during the season. Penalty points will include cup matches and play-offs. When 12 points is reached, the offender will receive a one match ban and a £20 fine. Points are then reset to zero.

(f) The LDC has the right to increase or decrease penalty point awards and any bans or fines as it considers appropriate.

(g) If a player is serving a ban, they may not attend the game in any capacity, including spectating or acting as a match official.

(h) Cumulative disciplinary points will be communicated to all clubs by the LDC on a weekly basis.

(I) T2 technical fouls and Disruption fouls will not carry any penalty points.

10. HBL Disciplinary Timeline

1. Event takes place
2. Event reported to League Disciplinary Officer (LDO) within 2 working days of event
3. Written reports sent to League Disciplinary Officer (LDO) by both referees and other relevant parties within 2 working days of event
4. LDO writes to offending party for their account within 3 days of event
5. LDO decides or assembles a group to decide and communicates the decision to all parties within 2 working days of receiving all relevant documentation.
6. The offending party has 3 days from receipt of decision to indicate an intent to appeal by email to LDO

No official indication to appeal received within specified period – original sanction applies.

Intent to appeal email received by LDO within specified time – go to 7)

1. An Appeal Chair (AC) is appointed by LDO who writes to the appellant (Appendix 1) specifying where to send the appeal information and by when (3 days after receiving the AC’s email).
2. AC receives appeal information from appellant and communicates whether an appeal is allowed (3 days after receiving appeal information)
3. If the appeal is denied, original sanction applies, and appeal deposit is forfeited
4. If the appeal is allowed, AC assembles a group to assess the appeal and comes to a decision (7 days after receiving appeal information)
5. The appeal decision is communicated to all interested parties within 2 days of the appeal hearing

Appendix 1

Dear

Regarding your intention to appeal the recent disciplinary decision made by the HBL Disciplinary Committee, I am writing to inform you that I will chair your appeal. I will be accompanied by two others who, like me, were not part of the original hearing.

The relevant rules for this appeal are in HBL Disciplinary Rules, Section 6, "Appeal".

Your submission must;

(1) Identify the specific decision(s) being appealed.

(2) Set out the ground(s) of appeal and the reasons why it would be unfair not to alter the original decision.

(3) Set out a statement of the facts upon which the appeal is based.

(4) Be accompanied by a £50 deposit, required by the relevant rules of the HBL,
payable to;

The Hertfordshire Basketball League

Business Community Current Account

Sort Code    23-05-80

Account No. 55341095

You should notify the Treasurer, Ian Cheesman (i.cheesman@ntlworld.com) once you have paid the deposit. This deposit will be refunded if your appeal is successful.

The grounds of appeal available are that HBL;

(1) Misinterpreted or did not follow the rules relevant to its decision and/or

(2) Came to a decision to which no reasonable such body could have come and/or

(3) Failed to give the appellant a fair hearing and/or

(4) Imposed a penalty or sanction that was excessive

I now await your submission, which must satisfy the above criteria, and be with me by the end of Sunday 12th January. Once I receive it and the Treasurer confirms that you have lodged your £50 deposit, I will inform you if your appeal is acceptable within the League rules. If it is, I will form the Appeal Committee and inform you of an approximate time scale for a conclusion.

If you have any questions about the process, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes

XXXXXXXX

Appeal Panel Chair

11. Disciplinary Guidelines for Herts. Basketball League Officials

Disciplinary reports are required in the following situations;

• A Disqualifying foul
• An event/incident after the end of a game involving a coach/player/team official/spectator.
• Anything you feel you need to report to the league for consideration by the League Disciplinary Officer (LDO) – e.g. facilities or anything not covered above.
• Disciplinary reports are not needed for:
• 2 Technical / 2 Unsportsmanlike fouls or combination, that results in a player or coach being disqualified from the game. These matters will be dealt with by the League Secretary through the penalty points system.

Reporting Timeline

• A written report by both floor officials (whether directly involved with the incident or awarding the Disq. Foul or not) within two working days of the game being played.
• It must be sent only to the LDO, no-one else should be copied into the report. This is important as it could cause issues with the determination and any later appeal that may result from the LDO decision.
• The reports must be, as far as possible, independently written, with no collusion between the floor officials apart from what was discussed on the court at the time of the incident. If one of the floor officials did not see the event/incident then say, there is no issue if you say that.
• Reports must be factual. State the facts (what you saw and what you heard, using direct quotes of what you heard) and any information you feel will help the LDO make an informed decision on the incident. Any earlier incidents or history during the season involving the player or coach should not be stated, the LDO will only decide on what happened in that game, not what has gone on previously in the season or last season.
• If any HBL Committee members are present at the game, they may send a written report to the LDO about the incident.
• If there is any video of the game that would help the LDO decide, and both teams agree to its use, then the Crew Chief should liaise with the owner of that recording for it to be forwarded to the LDO ASAP, but preferably within 48 hrs of the game being played. As not all clubs video their games, the use of video evidence is optional and should not disadvantage any team(s) that do not have any video of the game.
• Once the reports are sent to the LDO, please be available to the LDO to answer any questions or clarifications on the report sent by you.
• The LDO (and the panel members) will try and decide within two working days of all reports being received.
• If a club official wishes to send a report to the LDO, that is acceptable but will only be used by the LDO if they feel it adds any value or more information about the incident.
• At no stage should there be any dialogue or communication between clubs / players or officials unless initiated by the LDO, to gain further information or clarification of facts stated.

12. Use of video footage

The only time video evidence will be accepted is itemised in the HBL Disciplinary Rules. It is not acceptable to submit video footage to complain about an official. Complaining about an official follows the HBL Disciplinary Rules process, under section 10, HBL Disciplinary Timeframe**.**

13. Abuse or unwarranted comments or communications towards officials and opposition players 

Any abuse, unwarranted communication or defamatory comments towards officials or opposition players will be sanctioned with a disrepute charge. This applies to verbal and written communication, including and all social media.

14. In game comments

If a player or club official covers their mouth to make a comment to an opposition player or official, it will be an instant disqualification.