The Executive Committee has a duty of care to the membership of the League.

The League, through the divisional managers arranges fixtures and appoints referees to referee matches.

The Referee has a duty of care to the League and to the clubs he is allocated to referee by the League and to make decisions. We hope the referee makes more right decisions than wrong decisions; however he must make a decision.

Those decisions are made in the opinion of the referee and are not negotiable.

The referee has an absolute responsibility to report to the League Executive Committee any yellow or red cards issued in the match within three days of the match being played.

He is required to write an incident report on a separate report form.

The Executive committee has to record all reported cards on a special club register.

If a player received a red card, the team manager must ensure the player automatically misses the next match fixed by the League and must appear before the Executive in the Sports Centre on Thursday following the sending off. The mandatory one match suspension is non-negotiable; however the Executive may increase the punishment.

Each club is required to have a disciplinary hearing to deal with Red Cards and have a report for the Executive hearing on the Thursday following the match.

The Executive at the hearing will ask the club and the player the reasons why the player was sent off.

The referees report is read to the meeting and the executive make a decision based on the balance of probabilities, not civil proof.

The Executive then write up their decision, which is recorded in the Executive minute book and the club, is given a copy of the decision.

The Executive is made up of voluntary officials, all of whom have previous club experience.

The Executive require the officers of the club to see that the spirit of the sanction is complied with.

Should members of the Executive receive verbal reports of alleged wrongdoings, these must be followed up by a written copy to the Honorary Secretary. The Executive have a responsibility to investigate the complaint in the interests of preserving the good name of the Amateur Football League, however, no match will be awarded or refixed unless a registered protest is made in accordance with the rules of the League.

Team managers are advised that no comment should be made to or about the referee before, during and after the match. Referees fees should be in an envelope before the match to be given to the referee before the match commences. After the match the referee may require clarification on a name given or written on the card from the person responsible for filling in the match card.

For and on behalf of the Amateur Football League,

Noel Kennelly, Honorary Secretary. May 2013