New England Rugby Union Inc.
By-Laws 2018
Object
To advance the game of Rugby the New England Rugby Union area.
These By Laws were confirmed at a Management Committee Meeting of the New England Rugby Union on 25th February, 2018.
All Ground and Game Management rules will comply with the directions of Rugby Australia (RA) as stipulated each year.
Game Management Guidelines for 2018
Link to - Ground management guidelines
The games will be played under the Laws of Rugby as set by RA.
Behavior of all persons attending and participating in rugby activities will adhere to the Rugby Australia Code of Conduct.
The Competition Manager, Registrar and Judiciary Members were appointed at the AGM on 12th November 2017.
The Judiciary Committee will also act as the Code of Conduct Committee.
There will be three home and away rounds.
(1) Eligible Teams
All clubs must be members of the New England Rugby Unions and pay dues and subscriptions to the Union as set each year.
No club may enter the competition unless it abides by the Constitution and membership conditions set by the Union.
Each club will attempt to nominate 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, U19 and Women’s teams as well as support junior rugby in its’ geographic area.
Further grades will be able to play in local competitions organized and sanctioned by the Union or on a social basis but all players must be registered with a Club which is a member of the union.
(2) Management of the Competitions
| a. | The Competition Manager will make regular reports to the Executive of the Union who will refer all matters to the clubs as provided in the Unions Constitution. |
| b. | The Competition Manager will be responsible for reports to the Union, Clubs and the Publicity Officer on a regular basis. |
| c. | The Registrar will keep the Unions own records as a means of awarding the traditional trophies each year. |
(3) Publicity
Each Club will be responsible for reporting results to the media as soon as possible following games. Clubs will be responsible for publicity in their own local area and provide contacts to the media.
The Union’s Publicity Officer will be responsible for general media releases and provide links to clubs as required on a regular basis.
(4) Player Registration and Eligibility
| a. | All players must be registered with their own club as required by RA and by the Union. |
| b. | A player who is registered with a club under the RA requirements must remain with that club for the duration of the season unless the player moves districts for work or family reasons in which case the procedures stipulated by RA will apply. |
| c. | All age qualifications will be as set by RA each year. Underage players must be approved as per RA regulations at least one week before taking part in any senior rugby activity including training and coaching sessions. Link to – RA age/weight regulations. |
| d. | A club shall not be entitled to field more than two (2) overseas players (refer e below) in their 1st Grade side nor more than a total of four (4) overseas players for their Club on any one day of competition without the prior approval of the Competition Managers. |
| e. | Overseas players are defined as - “a person who has come to Australia to play rugby, who might be paid to play or who has been offered temporary employment as income assistance. This rule applies to anyone on a temporary employment visa, a sporting visa, a tourist or an education visa. If a person has applied for citizenship they may be exempted by the Competition Manager.” |
(5) Player Qualification for the Final Series
| a. | Players will qualify for final series if they have played a minimum of 5 matches for their club in any grade during the relevant season. | ||||||
| b. | Players will qualify for a final series match only if they have played 3 of the last 7 matches in that grade for their club. | ||||||
| c. |
Players may move to higher grades during the finals but higher grade players may not participate in lower grades unless the club has all higher grades in the finals in which case they may play in lower grades. Once the higher-grade teams in that club are eliminated the exemption will not apply. Exception:
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| d. | Finals teams must be submitted to the Registrar by 8.00pm four days before the scheduled semi final or finals matches to allow sufficient time for player eligibility to be checked. | ||||||
| e. | Players who have been selected for senior representative teams outside the Union may count those matches as 1st grade appearances for their club. Age specific representative games will count as being in the player’s usual grade. The number of matches which count will be the number of Club matches the player missed not the number of representative matches. |
(6) The Draw
| a. | The draw shall be made by a Draw Committee as established by the Executive of the Union. |
| b. | The Union will agree to the draw as soon as possible before the scheduled start date of the season. |
| c. | Fixtures shall be played at a date and time as advertised in the draw. |
| d. |
If both clubs concerned agree to alter the playing date or time the home club must determine the availability of a ground and notify the Managers, the Referees Appointments Board and the Publicity Officer eight (8) days prior to the scheduled playing date. Exception: Alterations because of weather or damaged fields may be necessary. Provided the alteration is approved by the Competition Manager and notified to the Referees Appointments Board and the Publicity Officer such changes may be authorised. |
(7) Competition Points
| a. |
The position of each team in the competition table shall be determined by competition points as set out below:
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| b. | The combined points of a Club from all grades in all divisions will be combined to determine the Club Champions in each division. |
(8) Playing times
| a. | Matches shall be played at times set down in the draw. Injury times may be allowed in lower grades but those games must finish five minutes prior to the scheduled starting time of the next match.
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| b. |
In the event one or both teams are not ready to commence play at the appointed time:
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| c. | In the case of a team withdrawing from the competition, points awarded in all games previously played against that team shall be disregarded, save and except where the team withdrawing has completed one round, or rounds, points awarded during the completed round will stand. | ||||||||||||||||||
| d. | A team forfeiting more than three (3) competition games may be withdrawn from the competition by and at the discretion of the Managers. | ||||||||||||||||||
| e. | It is the duty of the home Club to supply match results to the Registrar by telephone or text before 6.00 pm on the day of any match and to provide team and result sheets to the Registrar by noon on the day following any match. Any Club which fails to return the team and result sheets to the Registrar as required by this rule shall be liable to such penalty as the Manager shall determine. | ||||||||||||||||||
| f. | All players and results must be entered on Rugbylink. | ||||||||||||||||||
| g. | If an ineligible player takes the field the match must be stopped immediately and the team involved will forfeit the match. |
(9) Playing numbers and replacements
| 1. | Teams may nominate replacements up to a maximum of 7. | |||||||||
| 2. |
Rolling tactical replacements are allowed as follows:
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| 3. |
The following is to apply in first grade and not in lower grades: When 22 players are nominated in a team there must be five players who can play in the front row to ensure that on the first occasion that a replacement hooker is required, and on the first occasion that a replacement prop forward is required, the team can continue to play safely with contested scrums. Should a team not be able to meet this obligation for any reason during a game, or should a team not have three suitably trained front row players to commence a game with contested scrums, then the team concerned must play with one player fewer than would otherwise be allowed. If, subsequently, a qualified front rower becomes available so that scrums can be contested then that player will be allowed onto the field and the team may return to the appropriate complement of players. If neither team has suitably trained front row players to start a game with contested scrums, the above arrangements do not apply to the game, even if qualified front rowers subsequently become available. |
(10) Finals
| a. | In the event of two or more teams in the same grade having equal competition points, the position of those teams on the competition table shall be determined by the points scored for and against during the season. If they are still found to be equal, the points for and against between the two sides will be counted. Next determinant will be the tries scored in games between the two sides during the season. |
| b. | All deferred competition matches must be finalised at least seven (7) days prior to the commencement of the semi-finals, providing permission to defer any match has been granted by the Manager if, in the opinion of the Manager, unforeseen circumstances have prevailed. |
| c. | In the event of a draw in a semi-final or final match, an additional period of ten (10) minutes each way will be played without an interval. If there is still no result the team standing highest in the competition table shall be deemed to have won. |
| d. | In any Grand Final match, if the scores are equal at full time, an additional period of ten (10) minutes each way shall be played without an interval. If the scores are still equal an extra 5 minutes each way will be played without interval. During this extra time the first scorer will be declared winners. |
| e. | If the score then remains equal the teams shall be declared joint winners. |
(11) Judiciary and Appeals Committee
There will be a Judiciary panel appointed each season by the Management Committee.
The procedure for the Judiciary Committee hearing shall be that procedure recommended by the RA.
Link to – RA Judiciary Guidelines.
| a. | A player dismissed from the field by a referee shall appear before the Judiciary at such time and place as the Judiciary shall determine. The player may not participate in any match until the Judiciary has considered the case. | |||||||||||||||
| b. |
Should a player incur three temporary suspensions (yellow cards) in the competitive season, the player will automatically be suspended from playing in the next one round of scheduled fixture matches, this includes the finals series. Once a suspension has been served, the number of temporary suspensions attributed to the player shall revert to nil. This does not apply in the case of two temporary suspensions in one game. This scenario will be treated as per a player ordered from the field.
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| c. | The Judiciary or Executive which imposes a penalty on any player shall not suspend a player for a certain number of games but shall suspend a player to a specified date. | |||||||||||||||
| d. | The Executive will appoint an Appeals Committee. An application fee of $500 will apply, $200 may be refunded if the appeal is accepted. | |||||||||||||||
| e. | Any appeals may be referred to RA as per RA procedures. An application fee may be charged by RA. |
(12) Clubs or players bringing the game into disrepute
All Clubs must apply the RA Code of Conduct to all activities and persons at those activities conducted by the Club including functions at non-playing venues.
| a. | The Executive Committee shall have the power to summon before it a Club, player, Club officer or any person which in the opinion of the Executive is guilty of conduct which brings the game into disrepute. |
| b. | The Executive of the Union shall have the power cite any such person or club to the Judiciary which in that case will act as the Code of Conduct Committee under the By Laws set out by the RA. |
| c. |
Conduct toward Officials The Executive Committee will refer any complaint about unseemly conduct directed at officials to the Code of Conduct Committee. The Committee will enforce strict guidelines on this issue and there will be no tolerance allowed. |
