BC Ringette Association. Player Release Policy for players in “A”, “B” and “C”
caliber. Player Release Policy for AA players is in the High Performance Player
Policy.
Policy Change effective for 2015-2016 playing season.
Definitions: these definitions are be consolidated into the Definitions Section of BCRA Policy
and are reprinted here for convenience only:
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Committee is the BCRA Player Release and Overage Player Request Committee.
Home Association is the Association with which a player is required to register pursuant to
Section D, para. 1.4, “Residency”.
Receiving Association is the Association to which a player seeks to be released for the
playing season.
Uncontested Release is a player release request to which the Home Association and the
Receiving Association both consent and to which the Committee also consents.
Contested Release is a player release request which is not an Uncontested Release.
Associations should make every attempt to avoid contested releases.
President: is the Association’s President or that President’s delegate for the purposes of
Player Release requests.
Player: read as “the player or the player’s guardian”
Affiliate: a player who plays only on an AA team is not required to be released. (Please
note that this is the only definition of an Affiliate Player. Any other BC Ringette Policy
that uses the term “Affiliate” will have that term changed.)
Deadline: date by which all registered players have been assigned to teams by an
Association.
Deferral: Home Association does not make a decision on the player’s release request
because the Association wants to wait until September 15th or the end of Player evaluations
to make team formation decision
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Releases
BCRA administers all player releases between its members. Masters Division and 18+ Division
players are exempt from the release process. BC Ringette strongly encourages players to play in
their Home Association.
4.1 Player Release Request Procedure
a. A player must first register with their Home Association as set out in the BCRA residency
policies.
b. If the player wants to be released, the player completes the on-line BCRA Player Release
form.
c. Player gives their Release application to their Home Association, where it is signed by the
President, or delegate.
d. Conditions for granting a Release Request: a player may request a release from an
association on the following grounds:
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The Home association has no team at the appropriate age level of the player;
The Home association has no team at the appropriate skill level of play of the player.
e. If the Conditions for Release exist for the Home Association, the president or delegate
must sign the Player Release Form and deliver a signed copy to the player as an
Uncontested Release. If the Conditions for Release do not exist, and/or the Home
Association denies the release request for another reason, the Release Request is to be
returned to the player as a Contested Release. The player may appeal the decision to deny
the request pursuant to BCRA Policy.
f. Next, the player must then apply to the Receiving Association having geographical
jurisdiction over the nearest community to the player’s residence. If the receiving
association cannot accommodate the player, they may go the next closest association to the
player’s residence, and so on.
g. If after 15 days from requesting a release in accordance with these policies, a player is not
notified as to whether the request has been approved or denied by the Home association, the
player may register with the association to which they are requesting a release (“receiving
association”) until such time as the status of the release has been finalized by BCRA. All
requests for a release must be received by BCRA between September 1st and October 31st
of the current playing season. BCRA shall notify the league and Home association within 72
hours of receipt of the request for release.
h. BCRA approved releases are valid from September 15 through September 14 of the
subsequent year (one playing season).
i. The Committee will consider Player Release applications made after October 31st only in
unusual circumstances.
j. BCRA shall notify the league of the decision within 15 days of receipt of the release request.
BCRA’s decisions on releases are provisional until November 15th of the playing season,
after which date the final decision will be determined and advised.
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k. Third Year Clause: Following a release that has affected the same player and same Home
and receiving associations in three consecutive years; the said player’s receiving association
shall be deemed the said player’s home association for all of that player’s Ringette activities
(player, bench staff, Official, volunteer).
l. Notwithstanding any other policy contained in this manual, appeals of release decisions by
the relevant league or BCRA can be made to the BCRA appeal board. Such an appeal must
be in writing and received by the BCRA office within seven (7) days of written notification
of the league’s or BCRA’s decision. All appeals of release decisions are to be governed by
the appeal policies set out in this policy manual.
m. Appeal fees in “i” are non-refundable and must be presented with the application for
contested release or the appeal, as applicable. There are no processing fees for an
uncontested release application. Please see “Appendix: Rates and Honorariums – Release
Procedures” for specific fee breakdown for contested release application and appeal
processing of a release decision.
4.2 Association Initiated Release Procedure:
After September 15 and during team formation, Associations may determine that for the
purposes of team formation, and to meet the principle that every Registered Player is to be
accommodated on a team, that a player must be placed onto the roster of a team in an
adjacent Association. In this circumstance, every effort must be made within the
Association to move players to a higher caliber within their Division or to a higher Division
to accommodate all players who meet the Residency requirements and have registered with
the Association. Should these efforts still result in an Association being unable to place a
player onto an appropriate team within the Division of that Association, the Association is
to:
1. Contact every registered player in their affected Division to identify a volunteer to move to
the next closest Association.
2. If there is no volunteer, then the Association must move the last accepted Released player.
3. If there are no Released Players then the Association must move the last player Registered
in that Division.
4.3 Uncontested Release Procedure
a. The player takes the Uncontested Release form to the Receiving Association of their
choice. Once the player finds a Receiving Association who will take them, the Receiving
Association President or delegate signs the Player Release Request form.
b. Receiving association forwards the release to their league, who then either approve or deny
the release and forward the approved releases to the BCRA office for final determination.
c. After league approval, the player is allowed to practice and play with the receiving
association, with the understanding that the release must still be approved by BCRA and is
subject to review because of league tiering.
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4.4 Contested Release Procedure
a. Player obtains a BCRA release form from either BCRA, their league or Home association.
d. Player takes release to Home association. If the president of the Home association does not
approve the release, proceed to the next paragraph.
e. Player takes unsigned release form (“contested release”) to receiving association, where it
is signed by the president or delegate of the receiving association. The player then registers
with the receiving association and is eligible to play for the receiving association, pending
final determination of the release request by BCRA.
f. Receiving association must, within 72 hours, inform BCRA of the contested release,
failing which the Home association may be subject to such disciplinary action as
determined by BCRA (including but not limited to, fines and suspension from sanctioned
events).
g. BCRA must then contact the unwilling Home association and the league within 72 hours
of receipt of notice from the receiving association to determine why the Home association
did not sign the release.
h. The league must provide BCRA (within 72 hours) a complete and detailed report of why
the Home association did not sign the release. This due diligence must be thorough and
consider all sides of the case (player and association). Written documentation from the
player and association(s) must be included. The league should provide BCRA with it’s
position regarding the case. Every attempt by the league and associations should be made
to avoid a “contested release” having to be ruled on by BCRA’s Release committee.
4.5 Release Policy
a. Any person found to be soliciting players to be released shall be suspended immediately
from ringette with the right to appeal.
b. Any coach and/or association, which allows a non-released player to participate in any onice activities with his/her team or association, shall be immediately suspended from all
BCRA sanctioned events and/or fined per week for the duration of the non-released
player’s involvement prior to approval, at the discretion of BCRA. Please see “Appendix:
Rates and Honorariums – Releases” for specific fee details.
i. Any person or association found to be deliberately violating these policies shall be subject
to sanctioning by BCRA, with a maximum penalty being disqualification of the member’s
association from participation in BCRA sanctioned events for the remainder of the season
as well as disqualification of the member’s association from participation in the AA
program.
Transition Period from Old to New Policy, August 2015 through March 2016:
1. Players who have been released under previous policies and who apply to be released
again to the same Association as in 2014-15 are bound by the Third Year Clause.
a. If the player’s 2015-16 season Release Request is the 4rth to the same Receiving
Association then the committee shall determine that the release is to be considered
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Uncontested and that Receiving Association shall be deemed to be the player’s Home
Association henceforth for all of that player’s Ringette activities.
b. If the player’s 2015-16 season Release Request is the 2nd or 3rd to the same Receiving
Association, then the Release Request will be considered pursuant to the terms of this
new policy.
c. In the event that the Committee overturns an Uncontested Release to a Contested
Release, there is no fee for the Committee to adjudicate the Contested Release
Application.
2. Residency:
a.
Association Registrars must, prior to accepting a player registration, ensure that the
players does meet the requirements of the Residency policy. Association must direct
all incorrectly registered players to the correct Association and advise the players
actual Home Association that the player registered in error.
b.
Registration Audits:
i.
BCRA will audit all registrations on 31 October. The Associations will be
notified of any registration errors with a request for corrective action to be
completed by 30 November.
ii.
BCRA will again audit all registrations on 31 December. The Associations will
be notified of any new registration errors, and will be asked to take corrective
action. Should corrective action not have been taken for previously noted errors,
BCRA will resolve the question. Should that resolution be that the player
continue to play for the Association that registered the player in error, that
Association will give the player’s registration fee to the player’s correct Home
Association and will be fined the equivalent of the player’s registration fee
payable to BCRA. BCRA will monitor the player’s registration for their next
playing season.
iii.
BCRA will audit all registrations of players on teams that qualify for the BCRA
Provincial AA, A, B and C Division Championships. Players who are improperly
registered at this point will be suspended from play, prior to the start of the
Provincial Championships.
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