Discipline Policy

Discipline – Game Related

Discipline issues related to coaches, players and parents at games is handled either by the league or, for more serious cases, by BC Soccer.

Terms of Reference

Membership

An Ad Hoc Discipline Committee is comprised of minimum three people, independent of the Board, none of whom have children in the same age group or have professional or personal ties to the people being asked to come to the Discipline Hearing. The Committee is selected from a pool of people who have experience in governance, education, and law enforcement and meet the criteria set out above.

Meeting frequency – as needed.

Process

Written accounts of the discipline situation will be requested from all parties involved. Written witness reports will be accepted as well. If the committee feels they have enough information from the written reports to make a discipline decision, they will follow the BC Soccer Sanctioning table to determine the appropriate sanction. The BC Soccer sanctioning tables can be found at the following link - https://www.bcsoccer.net/media/5p2isq3z/dicipline-complaints-and-appeals-policy.pdf

If a hearing is required, the Chair of the Committee shall provide notification to all persons involved at least 48 hours prior to the meeting with the time and place (meeting link). The notification must include a summary of the reason why a discipline hearing is being held. The date and time shall be agreeable to all parties.

The Chair of the Committee shall document the outcome of the meeting and communicate any actions resulting from the meeting.

Discipline – Internal

For discipline issues that are not game-related, are internal, such as conduct or ethical violations, the following process should be used for those wishing to issue a complaint against a player, team official, parent, staff member, volunteer, or anyone else aligned with the Club.

For situations that require a Discipline Hearing, all those involved will be given at least 48 hours notice. An Ad Hoc Discipline Committee will be established comprised of three people, independent of the board, none of whom have children in the same age group or have professional or personal ties to the people being asked to come to the Discipline Hearing.

For complaints involving:

Players

The first point of contact should be the player’s coach. This should be done calmly and at least 24 hours after the incident in question.

If there is no resolution with the coach, the complainant can go to the Club’s Technical Director. The Technical Director will then discuss the issue with those who are relevant to get different viewpoints and advise the Executive Director of the issue. The Technical Director and Executive Director will then decide whether an Ad Hoc Discipline Committee is warranted. Otherwise, the issue will be managed by staff in collaboration with the player, player’s family, and others involved.

Team officials or other volunteers

The first point of contact should be the Technical Director. This should be done calmly and at least 24 hours after the incident in question. The Technical Director will then discuss the issue with those who are relevant to get different viewpoints and advise the Executive Director.

The Technical Director and Executive Director will then decide whether an Ad Hoc Discipline Committee is warranted. Otherwise, the issue will be managed by staff in collaboration with the team official.

Parents

The first point of contact should be the player’s coach. This should be done calmly and at least 24 hours after the incident in question.

If there is no resolution with the coach, the complainant can go to the Club’s Executive Director. The Executive Director will then discuss the issue with those who are relevant to get different viewpoints and advise the Technical Director of the issue.

The Executive Director and the Technical Director will then decide whether an Ad Hoc Discipline Committee is warranted or to refer the issue back to the Executive Director. Otherwise, the issue will be managed by staff in collaboration with the parents and others involved.

Staff members

The first point of contact should be the Executive Director. If the concern involves the Executive Director, the first contact should be the Board’s Risk Management Officer. This should be done calmly and at least 24 hours after the incident in question and can be in writing or on the phone.

The Executive Director will then discuss the issue with those who are relevant to get different viewpoints and then form an Ad Hoc Discipline Committee.

If the issue involves the Executive Director, the Risk Management Officer will discuss the issue with those who are relevant to get their viewpoints and then request the Ad Hoc Discipline Committee to convene a meeting.

Anyone else aligned with the Club

The first point of contact should be the Club’s Executive Director. This should be done calmly and at least 24 hours after the incident in question. The Executive Director will advise, depending on who the complainant is reporting and what the issue is, on what the process should be.

Appeals

• Basis for Appeal: Protests must be based on a violation of CMFSC or BC Soccer rules and regulations and submitted directly to BC Soccer and their Independent Third Party (ITP) Officer.  

Process

All rulings administered by the Ad-Hoc Discipline Committee include instructions on how to appeal.  

A decision cannot be appealed on its merits alone. An appeal may be heard only if there are sufficient grounds for the appeal as determined by the designated Appeals Panel (AKA Executive Director) Sufficient grounds include the following and do not extend to questions of law:

1. Making a decision for which it did not have authority or jurisdiction as set out in governing documents;
2. Failing to follow procedures as laid out in the approved policies of the association;
3. Making a decision which was influenced by bias;
4. Exercising its discretion for an improper purpose;
5. Making a decision which was grossly unreasonable.

Dispute Resolution

If issues arise that require a dispute resolution process rather than a Discipline process, the parties seeking the dispute resolution should contact either the Executive Director or the Technical Director, whichever one they feel is more appropriate.  A process will then be set in consultation with the parties requesting dispute resolution.

The Club would then decide the process, based on the situation on who to bring in for the dispute resolution process.   If it is felt that this could not be handled within the Club’s staff team, we would bring in external support, depending on what is required.  This could be a counsellor, a sports psychologist, or a trained mediator depending on the situation.