6 -  Forfeitures, Suspensions, Illegal or Ineligible Players, Tribunal, Penalties & Anti-doping

Tribunals and Rules Governing Suspended Players

A Judiciary Tribunal shall comprise 3 or more persons selected by the committee, one of whom shall be appointed Chairman.

No member of the committee is eligible to sit on a Judiciary Tribunal. A Tribunal hearing shall be no less than 14 days and no more than 28 days from receipt of the referral, unless the matter is deemed to require urgent attention, in which case the defendent and Judiciary Tribunal may agree on a variation of the time frame set out in By-Law rule 11.

A suspended player cannot participate in any game whatsoever until the suspension has been served as per the following criteria:

• The first consecutive scheduled inter-club competition game(s) in the team & grade the suspension was received.
• Exhibition Games do not count for the serving of suspensions.
• A double point game only counts for one game when serving a suspension.
• A suspended player must be removed from the team sheet and cannot sit on the bench.
• Unless determined otherwise by the Tribunal Panel and subject to club approval, a suspended player may continue training with his or her team.

The sole responsibility for the scheduling of games is with the Playing Operations Director, subject to the scrutiny of the Committee of Management. Games must not be re-scheduled for the convenience of a suspended player.

A player that receives a 'Game Misconduct' in the last half of the third period, or any overtime period of a game, is automatically suspended for the next game. The referee and team manager must notify the player of this.

A player that is reported as receiving a 'Match Penalty' or any other major offence above a 'Game Misconduct', will receive the automatic suspension time or a tribunal and automatic suspension time, as stipulated in the IHNSW Schedule of Offences and Automatic Suspensions.

A player and his/her club will be notified officially as to the suspension received. It is then the responsibility of the player to notify the IHNSW Executive Officer when he/she has served his/her suspension time as outlined in the notification letter sent.

Any player that receives five major penalties (ie. 5 minutes or longer) in a season, will be required to appear before the Tribunal Panel and will be ineligible to play in any further games until this takes place. This will be monitored by the Statistician.

If a player receives a suspension in his/her team's last scheduled game of the season, then the suspension may be served in any other grade's scheduled game in which he/she has played seven games or more in the current season. However, suspensions that cannot be served at the end of a season carry forward to the following season. Semi finals and finals are counted as part of the suspension period if applicable to the individual player.

Any member receiving a suspension that encompasses one or more seasons of play must be a registered member (any category), for the suspension time to be recognised.

There is no course for an appeal against a Game Misconduct.

Players who receive a Game Misconduct or Match Penalty from the automatic suspensions list, at the end of the season, is able to serve their suspension at the beginning of the following season, permitting them to play in the IHNSW sanctioned Summer Leagues.