Disciplinary Guidelines

OCUA is currently revising their Incident Report form & process. During this time, if you wish to report an incident please email OCUA's Safe Sport at safesport@ocua.ca 

Overview

This document details the formal guidelines on how incident reports filed against a team or player shall be investigated and dealt with.

A Note on Confidentiality

The names of those involved in, or witness to, an incident will not be released to the public. Some information regarding incidents may be released, and names may be given to Coordinators and Captains if required by the Disciplinary Guidelines detailed below. However, no information will be released that would enable the general public to resolve the individuals involved to a specific incident. It must be noted that any and all information regarding a specific incident will be made available to appropriate authorities where the OCUA is required by law to provide this information.

Incident Investigation Process

The following shall be the process for investigating and ruling on incidents reported by OCUA members:

1. Any incident occurring at the field of play before, during or immediately following an OCUA sanctioned game should be reported to team captains as soon as possible. Most minor incidents are resolved by the captains at the field. If captains are unable to reach resolution, one or both captains must contact the League Coordinator within 14 days of the occurrence of the incident. Identity of all parties and witnesses to the incident must be determined by the team captains when the incident is reported.

2. League Coordinators will mediate any dispute between captains in an attempt to reach resolution. If resolution is not achieved to the satisfaction of all parties, a captain may request to complete an Incident Report. Forms can be obtained from League Coordinators. Completion of this form is the responsibility of team captains and requires written statements from parties involved in the incident, captains of both teams and witnesses to the incident.

3. Incident Reports filed through the Incident Reporting System must be completed and forwarded to the responsible Coordinator within a further 14 days of the initial communication as described in Step 1 (i.e. the Incident Report must be filled out within 28 days of the actual incident). Should the incident not be related to a scheduled OCUA league game, the incident report shall be forwarded directly to the OCUA Program Officer and the process will skip to Step #7.

4. The Coordinator will solicit reports from the parties directly involved with the incident, the captains of the teams involved with the incident, and any relevant witnesses to the incident. The identities of all of these individuals must be made available to the Coordinator upon request. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action.

5. Upon reviewing the reports, the Coordinator shall make a ruling according to the Disciplinary Guidelines defined below. The original incident report and the Coordinator’s ruling shall be filed with the OCUA Executive Director.

6. Should the Coordinator be unable to make a ruling on the matter, either due to the restrictions of the Disciplinary Guidelines or for any other reason, or should the parties involved not be satisfied with the Coordinator’s ruling, the matter may be escalated to the Executive Director for further review or appeal.

7. The OCUA Executive Director will review all reports forwarded by the Coordinator and/or will solicit reports from the parties directly involved with the incident, the captains of the teams involved with the incident, and any relevant witnesses to the incident. The identities of all of these individuals must be made available to the Executive Director upon request. Failure to do so may result in further disciplinary action.

8. Upon reviewing the reports, the Executive Director shall make a ruling according to the Disciplinary Guidelines defined below. The original incident report, the original Coordinator’s ruling (if any), and the Executive Director’s ruling shall be filed with the Executive Director.

9. Should the Executive Director be unable to make a ruling on the matter, either due to the restrictions of the Disciplinary Guidelines or for any other reason, or should the parties involved not be satisfied with the Executive Director’s ruling, the matter may be escalated to the Safety & Discplinary Review Committe Cell of the OCUA Board of Directors for further review or appeal.

10. The Board of Directors will review all reports forwarded by the Executive Director and/or will solicit reports from the parties directly involved with the incident, the captains of the teams involved with the incident, and any relevant witnesses to the incident. The identities of all of these individuals must be made available to the Board of Directors upon request. Failure to do so may result in further disciplinary action.

11. Upon reviewing the reports, the Board of Directors shall make a ruling according to the Disciplinary Guidelines defined below. This ruling shall be final. The original incident report, the original Coordinator’s ruling (if any), the original Executive Director’s ruling (if any), and the Board of Directors’ final ruling shall be filed with the Executive Director.

Disciplinary Guidelines

The following are the guidelines for disciplinary rulings stemming from the Incident Investigation Process outlined above:

Conflict of Interest

Should there be a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest, for anyone charged with investigating and ruling on an incident, the incident shall automatically be escalated to the next level of investigation. For instance, a Coordinator must escalate to the Program Officer and the Program Officer must escalate to the Executive Director and the Executive Director must escalate to the Board of Directors. Should there be a conflict of interest for a Board member, that Board member must excuse him/herself and another Board member must take over the investigation.

Possible Disciplinary Actions

The OCUA is not a legal body. It is not in a position to detail all manner of potential incidents and assign corresponding disciplinary actions. It is felt that the judgment of those investigating and ruling on a given incident, and the appeal process provided, will prevent disciplinary actions that are out of proportion to an incident. However, it should be noted that the disciplinary actions taken against an individual or team by the OCUA may include, but are not limited to:

  • No action
  • Official warnings
  • Alteration of win/loss records for a team
  • Suspension of an individual or team
  • Expulsion from the OCUA of an individual or team

Any of these actions may be taken based on the severity of a single incident or documented history of incidents.

Disciplinary Authority

As per the Incident Investigation Process outlined above, various individuals or groups within the OCUA are empowered to impose disciplinary actions. The following outlines the actions each of these individuals or groups are authorized to impose upon an individual or team.

Coordinator

The Coordinator is authorized to impose sanctions up to and including the suspension of an individual for as many as five games.

Program Officer

The Program Officer is authorized to impose sanctions up to and including the suspension of an individual for an entire season and the suspension of a team for as many as five games.

Executive Director

The Executive Director is authorized to impose sanctions up to and including the suspension of an individual for an entire season and the suspension of a team for as many as five games.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is authorized to impose sanctions up to and including the permanent expulsion of any individual or team from the OCUA. However, any ruling involving permanent expulsion would require approval from the majority of members of the entire Board of Directors.

Suspensions

Due to the fact that many individuals in the OCUA play on multiple teams on multiple nights, suspensions of individuals will include any and all teams the individual plays for. This includes teams not involved in incidents that warranted said suspension. Also, games where a player is suspended do not count as games played toward a player's playoff eligibility.

Games where an entire team is suspended may be counted as defaults. As such, a team that is suspended for multiple games may come up for review by the Board of Director's for removal from the league.

Enforcement

The sport of Ultimate is based on the premise of Spirit of the Game. It is written into our rules that no player shall intentionally break the rules for gain. As such, players and their captains are entrusted to adhere to the rulings imposed by the OCUA. However, in the event of a suspension, additional measures must be taken to ensure compliance with the ruling. If an individual or team is suspended for any number of games, the captains of their scheduled opponents for the duration of the suspension will be notified as will the coordinators directly responsible for those games.

For suspension of an individual, the Captain's Rule cannot be used to allow the suspended player to play.

If a player or team is found to be playing in defiance of a suspension, additional and more serious disciplinary actions will be taken against the player. Also, actions may be taken against the team captain as an individual, or the team as a whole.