AUTHORITY
All disciplinary administration must conform to Ontario Soccer Operational Procedure Section 12.0 - Discipline; references to that section's procedures are given in brackets in this note. Clubs and leagues may establish their own rules and regulations, as long as those do not conflict with Ontario Soccer Operational Procedure 12.0 - Discipline. All registrants (player, team official or club/league official) are subject to the procedure.
DISCIPLINE MECHANISM
There are two mechanisms for administering discipline whenever a registrant has been cautioned (received a yellow card), dismissed (received a red card) or reported for an Ontario Soccer misconduct type (2.0). Those are Discipline by Review (DBR - 5.3) and Discipline by Hearing (DBH - 5.4). All discipline decisions must be made by DBR or DBH.
DISCIPLINE AT TOURNAMENTS
Discipline at tournaments are dealt with by DBR or DBH as appropriate, but those can take place immediately after the game where the incident occurred (7.0).
REQUEST FOR HEARING
DBR decisions are automatic, and the disciplined registrant does not provide input. A registrant charged with a misconduct that would be dealt by DBR may however request a hearing in order to be administered by DBH within three days of the misconduct (5.3.6). This means that a DBR may not issue a decision on a misconduct any earlier than 72 hours after the incident has taken place.
NOTIFICATION OF HEARING
A registrant facing DBH must be notified that a hearing is scheduled. If a club or league does not have a published schedule of disciplinary hearings, all those required to attend must be given 15 days notice (5.4.1). Those organizations that have a published schedule of disciplinary hearing must still send notification to those required to attend, but may hear the case at their next scheduled hearing, as long as the hearing takes place at least three days after the hearing (5.4.2).
COMMUNICATION OF PENALTIES
Decisions can only be issued by DBR (5.3.4) or by DBH (5.7.8). DBR decisions must be communicated in writing within four days of the review (5.3.4), DBH decisions must be communicated within fifteen days of the conclusion of the hearing (5.7.8.1). Decisions must include the exact misconduct for which the accused has been found guilty, suspension start and end date or the specific dates of suspended games, fines, fees and/or bonds (5.3.4 and 5.7.8.1). A registrant cannot be given an "automatic suspension" before a communicated decision by DBR or DBH. The registrant must be permitted to participate in games or competitions that take place before receiving a communicated decision of suspension by DBR or DBH.
APPEALS
A registrant may appeal the decision of a DBH (Operational Procedures 13.0 - Appeals). DBR decisions cannot be appealed, unless the decision was made in contravention or not in accordance with a published rule (see 7.4). SOSA is likely to uphold any appeal raised by a registrant if the timelines described in this note are not respected by a club or league.
Ontario Soccer Rights of Appeal (doc file)
RIGHTS OF APPEAL to SOSA INFORMATION
You have the right to appeal the decision of the Club League
This decision may be appealed to SOSA and may be appealed by any party affected by the decision.
The letter of appeal must specify your rationale for appealing the decision of the Club League
Your rationale must include:
- New facts not available when the Club League's decision was made or not available at previous hearings
OR
- Specific procedural errors made by the Club League Discipline Chair
OR
c) Specific instances where Articles or Rules have been wrongly interpreted by the Club League
Please Note;
- alleged, excessive fine, fee, bond, or suspension are not reasons to appeal the decision made by the Club League Discipline committee.
- failure to provide adequate rationale will result in your appeal being disallowed.
The appeal must be submitted in writing by registered mail, recognized Courier Service, hand delivery, fax or by e-mail no later than 5 days from the date the decision has been rendered by the Club League.
The appeal cost $100.00 payable to SOSA within 5 days from the date the decision has been rendered by the Club League.
If an Appeal is awarded, $50.00 will be awarded back to the person who won the Appeal
The contact info is as follows;
Southeast Ontario Soccer Association
35 Terry Fox Dr., Unit 201
Kingston, ON K7M 8N4
Phone 613-546-6642
Email: Joanie Sagriff – sosasoccer@bell.net
Any questions can be directed to Joanie Sagriff, SOSA Executive Director, at the above Contact number or email.