In the 2023 season, the Eastern Football Netball League will be trialling a new card system to cut out umpire abuse among coaches and officials.
The iniative was introduced in AFL Queensland last year and the league will be trialling it in 2023, through the junior competition.
Where unacceptable behaviours are emanating from the Coaching Box, a three-phase system will be undertaken by the Field Umpire/s via the use of White and Red cards to stop such behaviours in real time.
Phase One is purely a warning (White card shown).
Phase Two is a second warning, a free kick and 25m penalty for the opposing side (White card shown).
Phase Three, the Head Coach will be reported and removed from the game. The opposing side will also receive a free kick and a 25m penalty.
Field Umpires of the league will be instructed this year to issue the card without explanation. For a first and second phase white card, the umpires aren’t required to engage with officials, just show the card.
The responsibility of managing the behaviour of the coaches box will be up to the Head Coaches. The named head coach on the day will be liable for the behaviour inside the box where under the third phase, the coach will be removed from the box and placed on report.
Following this, the league appointed MRO will determine the course of action through tribunal.
EFNL Junior Football Manager, Paul Giannopoulos is excited to see the system in action this year in order to assist the junior umpires.
“After seeing the cards’ success after being trialled in AFL Queensland last year, we decided to adopt the system to help our young junior umpires manage match day behaviour,’ Giannopoulos said.
“With many young and inexperienced umpires joining the league to umpire in 2023, we believe the white card will give them a tool to manage coach and bench behaviour in a simplified way.”
“Fortunately in the EFNL, our coaches and officials are generally well behaved and we don’t think this tool will be required all that often.”