The internal policing of on-field indiscretions in Australian sport

Abstract

Australia's two main national football competitions. the Australian Football League (AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL) have both adopted a new disciplinary system for on-field indiscretions. This system involves the addition of a match review committee that looks at videos of all matches that took place on the previous weekend. Incidents either missed, or not considered to be worthy of any punishment by the match officials, will therefore be scrutinised, and may result in the player being suspended. It is a system that has worked well and is a format other sports with similar domestic tribunals could look at following. The presence of domestic tribunals does not mean that legal action in the form of criminal charges, or a civil torts action, will not occur, even if the culprit has already been suspended by a tribunal. It is suggested that where a civil action is most likely is where a professional player has had his, or her, career terminated by an on-field indiscretion that is beyond the rules of the game.