Vivio Cheshire County League
Behavioural Guidance for Clubs, Players and Officials
Introduction
As part of the focus on behaviour the league has recently run a series of Behaviour Workshops for Club Chairmen and 1st XI Captains. These were well received and clubs showed a clear willingness to accept their responsibilities and work with the League to ensure standards are improved upon. What was both surprising and disturbing to discover however was the scant general awareness of the Disciplinary Code under which the League operates. This document aims to provide a short summary of the key elements of the code, that all club members can easily read in less than ten minutes. For those who want the full version then this can be found both in the handbook and on the League website.
The league have adopted the ECB Premier League Disciplinary Regulations which as well as providing a full procedural framework, incorporates both the Code of Conduct and Spirit of Cricket. Together these broadly explain the responsibility of clubs, club members, officials, players and especially captains. Clubs who embrace the Code of Conduct and the Spirit of Cricket fully will be well on the way to a trouble free future.
The Spirit of Cricket and the role of the Captain
Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws, but also within the spirit of the game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself. The major responsibility for ensuring the spirit of fair play restswith the captains. There are two Laws which clearly place the responsibility for a team’s conduct firmly on the captain. This is particularly important at levels below first team when there is rarely the luxury of panel or even non-playing umpires. It is worth recognizing that more than three quarters of club cricket is played without panel umpires!
- The captains are responsible at all times for ensuring that play is conducted within the Spirit and Traditions of the game as well as within the Laws (ref. Laws of Cricket 42.1).
- In the event of any player failing to comply with the instructions of an umpire, criticising his decision by word or action, showing dissent, or generally behaving in a manner which might bring the game into disrepute, the umpire concerned shall in the first place report the matter to the other umpire and to the player’s captain, requesting the latter to take action
(ref. Laws of Cricket 42.18 (i)).
The Code of Conduct and the role of Players (or any other persons connected to a club)
Players must at all times accept the umpire’s decision and they must not do any of the following;
- show dissent at the umpire’s decision
- react in a provocative or disapproving manner towards another player or a spectator.
- intimidate, assault or attempt to intimidate or assault an umpire, player or a spectator.
- use crude and/or abusive language (“sledging”),
- make offensive gestures or hand signals, nor deliberately distract an opponent.
- use language, gestures or actions that offend, humiliate or isinsulting ordiscriminatory
- use or be concerned in the use or distribution of illegal drugs or other criminal activity
- not publicly disclose or comment upon any alleged breach of this Code of Conduct
- act in a manner improper, prejudicial or detrimental to either the League or the game
- act in any manner which is against the Spirit of Cricket
- make public, media or social media comments that are prejudicial or detrimental to the interest/reputation of others
The potential impact of non-compliance
Level / Typical Offences / Penalty Range (weeks)1 / Simple dissent / Excessive appealing / Equipment abuse / Time wasting / 1 to 6
2 / Serious dissent / Serious obscene language or gesture towards an opponent / Aggressively advancing to an umpire when appealing / Inappropriate physical contact between players / 3 to 8
3 / Intimidation of an umpire / Threat to assault an opponent or spectator / Discriminatory behaviour (race, religion, age etc) / Bowling deliberate beamers / 4 to 10
4 / Threatening an umpire / Assaulting an opponent or spectator / Any act of violence on thefield of play / Serious discriminatory behaviour (race, religion, age etc) / 10 upwards
Reported players will have their offence graded on a four point scale either by the reporting umpire(s) or the Disciplinary Chairman where offences are reported by club officials. Without going into the process players found guilty will be suspended before the following weekend.Suspensions apply to all matches at all levels including age group matches. Additionally misbehaviour can impact on both your captain and club if not handled well, and can result in fines and deduction of League points as well as suspensions.
Issued on behalf of the Vivio CCCL Premier League Cricket Committee
April 2017