Zero Tolerance on Backchat to Match Officials.  

The Warwickshire RFU Discipline Committee is concerned by a worrying trend over recent months of an increase in “Back Chat” to the Referees from Players, Coaches and Spectators.

Law 10.4 (s) states, “All players must respect the authority of the referee. They must not dispute the referee’s decisions. They must stop playing at once when the referee blows the whistle except at a kick-off or at a penalty kick following admonishment, temporary suspension, or sending off. 

Closer scrutiny of sending off reports had revealed a trend where failure to deal promptly with instances of “Back Chat” to the Match Officials during the game eventually resulted in severe problems later in the game which then escalate out of control leading to Referees having to dismiss players or in severe cases abandoning the game.

The Discipline Committee had discussed this trend with the Warwickshire Referees Society Executive towards the end of last season and they too agreed that action needed to be taken to curb this problem. As a result of this agreement Referees were asked to adopt a “Zero Tolerance” policy with effect from the weekend of 12th March 2011.

This Zero Tolerance approach will therefore be continued for the whole of season 2011 – 2012 with effect from Saturday 3rd September 2011.

Warwickshire RFU Discipline Secretary.

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