[Uwh-announce] Abuse and backchat to players and Referees - No more

[Angus Sinclair]

Hello,

We have been dealing with a long term problem where backchat and abuse
towards other players and referees has been dealt with on an individual
basis without major escalation or penalty.

This has been to try and get people on board and change their behaviour
without severe penalties or tribunals.

Unfortunately this has failed, and the sad result has been the loss of
valuable players and referees over time.

The International rules of the game clearly state that only the captain (or
representative given the captain being subbed out) can speak to the
captain. Abuse towards other players is covered in the TUHA  Bylaw 4.4.

On losing yet another high quality referee last week, the committee have
decided to take action. We will be working on the player code of conduct in
the coming weeks to strengthen the rules and penalties around breaching
these rules.

So, from this week, the only person who can talk to a referee is the
captain, and to make it easy, I'd recommend you start the conversation with
"I am the captain".
All other comments, remarks or queries about any call or play, keep to
yourself. If you need to raise anything, do it through the captain.

Captains, it is your responsibility to ensure your players adhere to both
the rules and the code of conduct. If you lose players to the sin bin
because of this, it is your responsibility to fix it.

Referees (and this includes deck refs - technically you are in charge of
the game), you are within your rights to warn players, then give penalties
as you see fit. If you feel the comments or behaviour constitutes
unsportsmanlike behaviour, it is up to you to penalise accordingly.

We will be giving clearer guidelines in the coming weeks so please be
sensible in how you deal with this until the guidelines are more clearly
defined. However, ALL players are on notice. You back chat or get verbal on
the surface, expect some time in the bin.

I am more than happy to discuss this with anybody for whatever reason.

Angus

Chief Ref,

0427501890

Remember, regardless of what you think of the call, live with it, keep
quiet and move on.
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