Discipline Code - what the new rules mean for players, coaches and managers
This short document is designed to provide a summary of the Discipline Rules for participants in
Scottish Hockey Competitions. It is not designed to replace or communicate in detail the Discipline
Rules.
We advise that all individuals involved are fully aware of the Discipline Rules.
If you are red carded or involved in an incident reported to Scottish Hockey you are advised to read
the rules to understand the processes including appeals.
Players

Yellow Cards
Four yellow cards in a 12 month rolling period will result in a two match ban.
Scottish Hockey will write to you and your club to tell you which games you will be missing. In the
event that you have had a ban within the previous three years from the day you receive your fourth
yellow card, the two match ban may be extended by up to a further two matches.

Red Cards
(a) Grade 2 Red Card
This is when you receive a red card as a result of yellow card offences within the same match.
You are automatically banned for your club’s next two matches, including situations where a red card
is given on Saturday and there is a game the next day.
In the event that you have had any form of ban within the previous three years, the two match ban
may be extended by up to a further two matches.
You may not receive a letter before your two match ban starts, so it is you and your club’s
responsibility to ensure you know the next two scheduled matches.
(b) Grade 1 Red Card
A Grade 1 Red Card is when you receive a straight red card.
You are automatically banned from all playing coaching, managing, officiating, umpiring or spectating
within the Field of Play during any match within the jurisdiction of Scottish Hockey and at international
level for Scotland until the decision is reached.
Reports relating to the incident will be collected. On completion of the investigation the Discipline
Officer will either send out an Offer Letter, or in certain cases send the incident direct to a Discipline
Panel for a decision.
The Offer Letter will contain the number of games that the Discipline Officer is proposing to ban you
for. You can either accept the ban, or if you feel that the ban is too severe you can decline the Offer
Letter. If you do choose to decline the Offer Letter, a Discipline Panel will be convened at the earliest
opportunity to review the reports and make a judgement.
While the Discipline Panel can decrease the number of games, they can also maintain or increase the
number of games that you are banned for.
Umpires
Please ensure you record all cards, including green cards on the Match Report Form.
If you have issued a straight red card, it is considered an automatic Grade 1 Red Card offence.
Please complete the reporting process on the Match Report Form and submit to Scottish Hockey
within 24 hours of the match being played.
If a player has been red carded and had already been yellow carded during the match, you need to
tell the representatives of the club whether you deemed it to be a straight red card - and therefore a
Grade 1 Red Card - or whether the red card was issued as the result of a second yellow card, which
is then considered a Grade 2 Red Card. Please follow the reporting process on the Match Report
Form and submit to Scottish Hockey within 24 hours of the match being played.
Under the new discipline rules you may now issue a red card to a member of team staff.
Best practice is to tell the offending individual to stop or improve their behaviour prior to issuing the
card, but this may not always be possible. If a member of team staff is red carded their team is also
reduced by 1 on-field player before the match restarts.
You can also ask spectators to leave the pitch or surrounding area if they are becoming abusive or
physically threatening.
If there is an incident before or after a match – commonly known as Before Match Incidents (BMI) and
After Match Incidents (AMI) - this should not be result in someone being shown a card, but instead
reported to Scottish Hockey on the appropriate form found on the website.
For clarification, the half-time period and any part of the game continuing after the final whistle such
as penalty shoot-out or a penalty corner is still considered part of the match so a card should be
shown and appropriate procedure followed should an incident occur during this time.
Coach/Manager/Other Staff
All staff are wholly accountable for their actions during the match.
An umpire may decide to show a red card if any member of the team staff are abusive, physically
threaten or demonstrate any other behaviour that the umpire deems to be a red card offense.
In the event of receiving a red card, it is a Grade 1 Red Card, and the process above for a player
receiving a red card will be followed.