The following procedures shall be followed for all cases occurring in games played under the auspices of the LBBL.  The Disciplinary Officer of the LBBL shall deal with any disciplinary matter or dispute not covered below in accordance with the general principles of these procedures.

1. Players and Coaches

1.1. The following penalties shall normally apply;

1.1.1. For a Disqualifying Foul: an automatic one-match ban.

1.1.2. For violent conduct towards other players or coaches, resulting in disqualification: an automatic three-match ban.

1.1.3. For inappropriate physical conduct or violent conduct towards Match Officials: an automatic six-match ban.

1.1.4. For inappropriate comments regarding the officials or the officiating after the game has ended: an automatic one-match ban.  This penalty can be increased if the comments include swearing, are offensive, repeated or prolonged.

1.1.5. For verbal abuse of Match Officials or other participants occurring after the game has officially ended: an automatic three-match ban. This penalty can be increased if the abuse is repeated or prolonged.

1.1.6. For comments or actions that accuse or imply bias on the part of a Match Official: an automatic 5 match ban. Also see section 3.

1.1.7. For Gross Misconduct, i.e. excessive violent/aggressive behaviour (physical/verbal); theft or fraudulent behaviour, racial abuse/comments; substance abuse; sexual abuse; drunken and disorderly conduct carries an unlimited penalty. Any such action will be reported to Basketball England (BE) incurring a possible lifetime ban from all Basketball England sanctioned leagues, competitions, games and events.

1.1.8. Other misconduct or behaviour outside the spirit of the rules which is reported by a Match Official will be dealt with by the Disciplinary Officer and if considered appropriate or necessary the matter will be referred to a Disciplinary Committee.

1.1.9. If a player’s conduct results in more than one penalty being applicable, then the penalties will be added together.

These penalties shall also apply to any Coach, Assistant Coach or Team Follower.

Any player, Coach, Assistant Coach or Team Follower who persistently receives Technical Fouls, Disqualification Fouls or Unsportsmanlike Fouls may be summoned to appear before a Disciplinary Committee.  This Committee will have the power to impose penalties on persistent offenders, as it deems appropriate.

1.2. The above penalties apply to any formal participation in the game(s) involved.  That is, Players and Coaches may not play, coach, officiate or act as a Team Follower at the game(s) covered by the disciplinary action. Please note that formal participation is not allowed once the officials’ powers begin which is 20 minutes before the game is scheduled to start; in practice, at a local level, this will generally mean that once the warm up has begun any banned person should not be courtside unless in a spectator area. Please note that the same restrictions apply to the half time interval. Any ban will apply to the relevant men’s or women’s games, both league and cup.

1.3. The Referee and Umpire(s) of the game in which the incident(s) occurred and any other interested parties must submit a written report to the Disciplinary Officer, this should be done within 48 hours of the end of the game.

1.4. The Disciplinary Officer may apply the penalties set out in section 1.1 without reference to a Disciplinary Committee.

1.5. A Disciplinary Committee comprising of the Disciplinary Officer and at least one other neutral person, nominated by the Executive Committee, shall consider all other cases or in any severe case deemed necessary by the Disciplinary Officer.

1.6. The Club Secretary shall be informed in writing of the penalty, the date from which it is to commence and the match numbers of the fixtures concerned within seven days of the decision being made.  The Official’s report/s together with any other written evidence submitted to the Disciplinary Officer will also be sent to the Club Secretary at this time.

1.7. The penalty shall normally take effect seven days after the decision has been made.

1.8. If a Player, Coach or Assistant Coach either plays or coaches in any games played under the jurisdiction of the LBBL from which they have been banned, they shall incur a further three match ban.

1.9. A ban will normally apply to the next scheduled game/s. Once designated the ban cannot be switched to any other game/s, unless it is known that the designated game/s will not be played. In the case of a designated game/s not being played then the Divisional Secretary and the Results Secretary may nominate an alternative game/s.

1.10. Any suspension or ban will be carried over from one season to the next.

2. Spectators

2.1. Clubs shall be held responsible for the behaviour of their spectators;

2.1.1. The home team is responsible for the behaviour of its supporters and any unaffiliated spectators.

2.1.2. The visiting team is responsible for the behaviour of its supporters.

2.1.3. At neutral venues, each team is responsible for its own supporters.

2.2. The home team shall clearly identify spectator areas and segregate these unambiguously from team benches and the Scorer’s table.  NO SPECTATOR SHOULD BE ALLOWED IN THE VICINITY OF THESE AREAS.  If there is any doubt about the designation of spectator areas the referee’s decision is final.

2.3. Individuals or groups who are guilty of causing disturbances, using foul and/or abusive language or inciting detrimental crowd behaviour shall be ejected from the hall.

CLUBS ARE WARNED THAT IF A GAME IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE BECAUSE OF SPECTATOR MISCONDUCT IT MAY BE DECLARED FORFEIT BY THE REFEREE.

2.4. The following penalties may be imposed upon clubs for spectator misconduct;

2.4.1. For a first offence: a fine of £25.00

2.4.2. Additional offences may result in a higher fine and the deduction of points or expulsion from the competition

2.4.3. Forfeiture of a game as a result of spectator misconduct will result in a fine of £50.00 for the guilty club.

2.5. The Referee has certain responsibilities with respect to spectators and their behaviour:

2.5.1. To ratify the arrangements of the Organiser under item 2.2.

2.5.2. To mediate any dispute between teams about arrangements for spectators.

2.5.3. To declare games, forfeit if necessary.

2.5.4. To act as a neutral party representing the Competition Organiser.

2.5.5. To request the removal of spectators by the appropriate team under item 2.3.

2.6. The Referee and/or Umpire of the game in which the incident(s) occurred, the Clubs involved and any other interested party must submit a written report to the Disciplinary Officer, this should be done within 48 hours of the end of the game.

3. Discrimination

3.1. Comments or actions that are based on age, disability, gender, race, ethnic origin, cultural or social background, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political affiliation or any other personal characteristic/feature are unacceptable and will be dealt with as a disciplinary matter. This applies to all participants, officials and spectators.

4. Social Media, Including Email

4.1. Any LBBL registered members misuse of social media in accordance with Basketball England’s social media policy (available on the Basketball England website) which is reported and where evidence is supplied, the LBBL Disciplinary Officer will take action resulting in the following penalty(s):

4.1.1. Player, Coach, Assistant Coach or Team Follower: 1 game ban.

4.1.2. Non In-Game Participating Registered Club Member and Match Official: £25.00 fine.

4.2. All repeat offences in relation to misuse of social media during the same season of offence will automatically result in an additional penalty. I.e. a second offence will double the penalty, a third offence will triple the penalty, and so on.

5. Appeals

5.1. Appeals against LBBL disciplinary action and against decisions of Affiliated Bodies should be made immediately in writing by the Club Secretary or the Chair/Secretary of the Affiliated Body to the Disciplinary Officer and must be accompanied by a deposit of £25.00. The deposit must be paid into the LBBL bank account within 48 hours of lodging the appeal; if the deposit is not received within the 48 hours then the appeal is rejected and no subsequent appeal is allowed. The deposit should carry the reference “Appeal” and the Club/Affiliated Body name. The appeal is refunded if the appeal is upheld and forfeited if not.

5.2. The decision of the Disciplinary Officer, the Disciplinary Committee or Affiliated Body shall be suspended until the appeal has been dealt with.

5.3. All relevant parties shall be asked to submit written evidence if they have not already done so and invited to the appeal hearing only to present further evidence.  The appeal hearing shall normally take place within fourteen days of the receipt of the appeal. If no further evidence is to be presented, and if appropriate, the appeal may be dealt with by email and/or telephone communication.

5.4. Appeals against decisions of the Disciplinary Officer/Disciplinary Committee shall normally be considered by an Appeals Committee consisting of 3 members of the LBBL Executive Committee. Where necessary the Disciplinary Officer may invite appropriate neutral personnel when LBBL Committee Members are not available or deemed inappropriate for selection.

5.5. A LBBL Disciplinary Committee shall normally consider appeals against decisions of Affiliated Bodies.

5.6. If there is an appeal hearing, if invited to the hearing, the party making the appeal shall be entitled to be accompanied by a friend or advisor.

5.7. The Appeals Committee shall have the power to uphold or change the decision of the Disciplinary Officer/Disciplinary Committee or Affiliated Body.  It may diminish or enhance any penalty imposed and may, in addition, fine Clubs for appeals which are not supported by significant evidence.

5.8. Any further appeal made with regards to the decision of the Appeals Committee must be made within seven days from the notification of the decision.

5.9. The decision of the LBBL is itself subject to appeal to the Appeals Convenor and the decision of the Appeals Convenor is subject to further appeal to Basketball England. An appeal to the Appeals Convenor requires payment of an additional deposit of £25.00 and payment etc is as per 5.1.