It May Get Dry Yet?Don't Give Up Hope - Albuquerque Soccer League

Page 8Red Cards and ProtestsASL NewsHere’s how the protest process works inASL. If you wish to have action takenbecause you believe you have unfairlybeen booked for misconduct, this is theprocess you follow. You’re free to calland complain or e-mail and complain.However, filing a protest and appearingbefore the League Appeals and DisciplinaryCommittee is the only way you getaction taken, as your peers review yourcase and make a decision.The Appeals and Disciplinary Committeewill be preassigned by team for theentire season. Each Saturday, we willconvene an A&D Committee to reviewprotests that have come in during theweek. Each week, the panel will consistof a person from one team in each division.If you wish to trade with anotherteam during the week you’re assigned,that’s up to the two teams. The A&Dmember from the division in which theprotest is filed will not vote on the resultsto avoid a conflict of interest. TheVice President will not vote at all. Wehave included the fall season assignmentson page 23 of this newsletter. Ifthe person representing your team doesnot show up for the A&D hearing, yourteam gets fined $25, just like missing aleague meeting. Protests will still befiled in the same manner. Protests involvingred and yellow cards will be dueno later than the close of business onWednesday following the Sunday gamein which the card is issued. The hearingwill be held the following Saturday,prior to the game being played. If theweek is the same week as the monthlyASL meeting, we will hold the hearingsat the ASL meeting so people don’t haveto attend two meetings in the same week.If you or your team is not represented atthe hearing, you lose. You no longer getto keep playing until it’s convenient foryou to make the hearing. Your team representativeor anyone else can representyou at the hearing.We will have the Vice President reporton the results of the hearings at theLeague meeting. He gets to report theprotest, the basis for its being filed, andthe basis for its being overturned if thatis the results. The Vice President alsowill produce a written summation ofthe protest, including the incident, thegrounds of the protest, the results ofthe hearing, and the basis on which thedecision was made.In addition, we will notify the teamrepresentative from the opposing teamthat is involved in the protest. We havediscovered that in several protests fromthe last year that the opposing teamhad a significantly different version ofevents than the person filing the protest,but was unaware that the card wasbeing protested. We will also notify thereferee of the game involved that hiscard is being protested. The referee isthen entitled to submit any supplementalin-formation related to the incidentin time for the Saturday hearing. We’llpublish the results of the protests andthe vice president will get to reportback to the referee association on theprotests that involve the referee decisions.In order to provide some guidanceto the members of the A&D Committee,we have prepared a set of“jurist instructions” that will providerelevant portions of the FIFA Laws ofthe Game that relate to the authority ofthe referee and fouls and misconduct.Protests still cost $ 25. You still getyour money back if your protest is upheld.To file a protest you complete theprotest form and have it at the ASL officeby close of business on Wednesday.That gives the Vice President timeto pick up the protests and have Anncontact the teams scheduled for thatweek to let them know whether therewill be a hearing or not, so they don’thave to come to the office to find out.You do not have to file your protestyourself. Anyone can come in and fileyour protest. However, it does need tobe complete, paid for, and in our handsby the close of business on Wednesday.What we’ve basically done is put someprocedure behind the process and formalizeit to make it fair for all concerned.The appointment of the A&DCommittee has been removed from thestrict oversight of the Vice Presidentand spread to all teams in the League.The members of the A&D Committeewill change each week and they will beprovided information that the referee istaught in making decisions during thegame.The idea is to provide a fair and impartialforum in which players can get ahearing. Referees make mistakes. Insome cases, we get the wrong person’spasscard retained by the referee. If theabsurd position is maintained that thereferee report is sacred and even mistakeshave to be upheld, you would discoverthat the person who is supposed tosit out is playing and some more guywho didn’t do anything sits. That’s not afair system. By the same token, peoplewho were at the game and have a disagreementwith the player’s case that he“didn’t do anything” now have a chanceto be at the hearing and explain that“didn’t do anything” and “head-buttedmy player” are slightly different versionsof the same event.We have encouraged the referees to followUSSF rules and properly report refereeabuse incidents. Those are any casein which a player or team managercurses at, threatens or otherwise directsfoul or abusive language at the referee.Those events are under the jurisdictionof the New Mexico State Soccer Association,who will be dealing quickly withany of those reports. The protocol requiredof the United States Soccer Federationin both referee abuse and refereeassault calls for the referee to report theincident within 24 hours to both the stateassociation president and the state refereeadministrator. Referee abuse calls fora minimum three game suspension and$50 fine. That suspension is automatic.We will forward a letter advising you ofthe suspension and you can request ahearing on the report. In the alternative,you can invest $ 300 and appeal the actionto the USSF.NMSSA rules also provide that NMSSAcan require a player to post a bond tocontinue playing and that the player canbe fined for conduct.