Red and Yellow Cards

Red Card: $50 fine. Automatic two-game suspension.
Yellow Card: No fine. If a player accumulates three yellow cards during the calendar year, he must miss the next scheduled league game following the third yellow card.

A red card suspension covers the SVICSA schedule of the team the player was playing for at the time of the incident. The player will not play for any other SVICSA team until specified by the Disciplinary Chair, who upon review will notify the team and player about the next available game the player can participate in.

Red card fines are payable by the player/team to the league before the player’s return to the field of play following suspension. Generally, referees submit referee game reports and red/yellow card reports within 24 hours of game.

Red/yellow reports are automatically forwarded to the Chair of the Disciplinary Committee, Bill Nieuwenhuis, as well as League President Michael Smith and Referee Co-ordinator Keith Thompson, among others. It may also be prudent to contact Bill Nieuwenhuis directly to ensure receipt of reports where serious incidents have occurred. The Chair of the Disciplinary Committee should contact League President Michael Smith and Referee Coordinator Keith Thompson, so that notice of longer-term suspensions are provided to all team managers and referees.

SVICSA Disciplinary Committee: Process

Anyone, including a game referee, may refer a matter to the SVICSA Disciplinary Committee for consideration, whether or not punishment has occurred. Such matters will only be considered if they are in writing and specific. They shoud be sent to the Disciplinary Committee Chair Bill Nieuwenhuis. Access the Discipline Form. (You have to be able to log in to view this web page.)

If a matter is referred to the committee, the committee must assemble all relevant evidence (including the game report), share it with the player, and give the player an opportunity to be heard by the committee within a reasonable time set by the committee. This will normally occur by email transmission of written records.

Once the deadline for comment by the player has passed, or once the player has commented, the committee must consider what punishment, if any, to order. The committee must communicate the result to the player and his team manager. Further communication to team managers and referees league-wide should occur (as above).

The committee may disqualify a player from playing in the league for up to 12 months. If the committee thinks punishment exceeding that is appropriate, it may so recommend to the membership for consideration in a general meeting.

If a matter is referred to the membership, the committee must assemble all relevant evidence, including the game report, share it and the recommendation with the player, and give the player an opportunity to be heard by the membership. The player can elect to do this in person at a general meeting, in writing, or not at all.

The members may disqualify a player from playing for a period or indefinitely (e.g., kick him out of the league).

Punishment Guidelines

In general, the game referee and the committee will be guided by the punishment guidelines of BC Soccer and the BC Old Timers Soccer League. But also in general, SVICSA punishments will exceed the punishments of those leagues. There is no place for bad behavior in SVICSA and it will be dealt with firmly.

The committee should bear in mind the timing of any tournaments that occur outside the regular SVICSA season and be specific about the effect of any ruling on the player’s opportunity to play in those tournaments.