Reporting Red Cards

Application and purpose

This protocol applies to all members of the Herts Referees Society, in all games appointed by the Society at Level 6 and below.
The protocol does not cover games which are not appointed by the Society. If you issue a red card in a game not appointed by the Society (typically a Sunday morning youth game) you should deal with this directly with the offending player’s club. This does not need to be reported to the Society. Obviously this does not prevent you from bringing an incident to the Society’s attention or discussing it from a training and development perspective, but the Society will not normally get involved in the disciplinary process.
The purpose of this protocol is to set out how red cards should be reported, and to explain the normal process which follows. This protocol is not about whether you should issue a red card in the first place. It is about what you should do, and what you can expect, if you do issue a red card.
Match official abuse (MOA) which results in a red card is covered by this protocol. MOA which does not result in a red card is covered in a separate protocol. As a rule of thumb:
- MOA from a person who is legitimately inside the playing enclosure (i.e. usually a player or a coach) which occurs during the game or immediately after the final whistle, should be dealt with by issuing a red card.
- MOA from a spectator and/or which occurs after you have left the playing enclosure at the end of the game should be dealt with as described in the separate MOA protocol.

On the pitch and at the club after the game

You should carry a clean copy of the Red Card Form, which is available on the Society website, to every game. You are encouraged to take it onto the pitch (e.g. folded and kept in your wallet).
If you issue a red card, you must make notes before restarting the game. If you have it with you, complete the first half of the Red Card Form. If you do not have it with you, you will need to try to remember what information is required and note this on the back of the scorecard.
After the game, you should complete the second half of the Red Card Form (or if you didn’t have it on the pitch, the entire Red Card Form) as soon as possible, ideally before you leave the changing room. You should also alert the discipline team as soon as possible by sending a text or WhatsApp to Mike Skeels (07595 611 927) and Tom Jackman (07816 349 029).
It is unwise to get drawn into any lengthy explanation or debate about your decision. Coaches and players should not enter into any discussion with you for at least half an hour after the game. After that, it is reasonable for the offending player to apologise to the referee, and/or for an appropriate person (e.g. the offending player, or a captain / coach / club official) to seek clarification on the reason for your decision and/or the next steps. It is best to keep your answers short and factual.
It is not appropriate for anyone to try to influence what you will write in your report, to suggest that you delay filing your report (e.g. pending a review of video evidence) or to suggest that you shouldn’t file a report at all. All red cards must be reported, even if you think you made a mistake. Do not engage in any discussion of this nature whatsoever.
If the game was recorded by one or both of the teams, you should ask them to send you a copy of the recording as soon as possible. If necessary, you can assure them that the video will not impact your report, not least because it is likely that the report will need to be submitted before the video is available. The disciplinary panel will request the video anyway and they will eventually forward it to us, so no-one has anything to gain by withholding it from you.

What happens next?

A member of the discipline team will acknowledge your message within 12 hours.
You should complete a Red Card Report on WTR as soon as possible, ideally on the day of the game. The notes you made at the club on your Red Card Form should help significantly. Save the report in draft. Do not finalise it. Guidance on completing the form is outlined below.
The discipline team will review your draft report. Depending on the circumstances, they may give feedback in writing or discuss with you via text messages or on a call. They will agree with you when the report is ready to be finalised.
When the report is finalised, it will automatically be sent to the Herts Disciplinary Panel. From this point onwards, the Panel are in charge of the process. The discipline team will liaise with the Panel and will let you know if you need to do anything else.
The referee is not normally required to attend the Panel hearing. A member of the discipline team (or Peter Brady) will usually attend and will update you on the outcome. If you are asked to attend the Panel hearing, the discipline team will guide you through the process. It is understood that it may not be possible for the referee to attend.

Variations for different matches

The process described above applies to the majority of matches appointed by the Society at Level 6 and below. There are some games (e.g. exchange games, certain youth games) where the process may be different. This protocol does not cover those variations.
However, the discipline team will let you know if you need to do anything different. You should therefore follow the process as set out above unless they tell you otherwise.

Guidance on writing Red Card Reports

If you followed the process set out above, you will have completed the Red Card Form (available on the Society website). This should make it easy for you to complete most of the boxes on the form on WTR.
One of the drop-down menus requires you to cite a particular law (from a list of options). This may be obvious, but sometimes it isn’t. If in doubt, ask the discipline team.
The rest of this guidance focuses on the two big boxes.
Try to be as clear and concise as possible. A series of short sentences is usually better than a long sentence.
Be factual. Do not speculate. Of course, in many cases your decision will have been at least partly based on a subjective judgement (e.g, whether an action was deliberate). Use phrases such as “I felt that…” or “in my view…”.
Emphasis can be good, e.g. “I felt certain that…” or “In my view it was clear that…”. However, you should only do this where you are very clear. If you state something with great confidence but it is contradicted by video evidence or multiple witnesses, it undermines the credibility of the rest of the report.
In the box about background, try to paint a picture for the Panel of the context in which the incident occurred. There are some incidents where this box will be more important, but this section can often be quite high level.
You should include something on whether the offender apologised to you (or to anyone else involved, e.g. the “victim” of a dangerous tackle). The Panel generally take an interest in this.
There is not a single “right way” to draft the description of the incident, but here is an approach which you may find helpful:
- Describe what happened. What was happening in the game? Where were you positioned? What did you see?
- Describe what you did, and the process you went through. Where there is an established process (e.g. for high tackles) you should use that process to explain your decision.
- Describe the immediate fallout, especially the reaction of the offender. Did they leave the field without complaint? Did they dispute your decision?
- When you have finished your draft, read it through. As well as picking up obvious errors, think about whether there is anything you could add which might help the Panel to decide on the appropriate sanction. That will sometimes require more information than is needed simple to determine whether it was right to issue a red card at all (e.g. Was it deliberate? What was the level of force?).