Red Cards and Misconduct Offences

Follow this link to open the Red Card Reporting online form.

Get a copy of our recommended framework for dealing with Red Cards.

What Is A Red Card Offence?

A Red Card may be issued to any person participating in the match, including players on the pitch, substitutes and team officials (which includes managers, coaches, physiotherapists and doctors who are part of a team’s squad, whether or not they are included on an official team sheet) in the following circumstances:

• for any Red Card Offence or other misconduct defined as a Red Card Offence under the FIH Rules of Hockey or the England Hockey Disciplinary Regulations committed during a match and/ or
• for any offence or act of misconduct committed within 30 minutes of the conclusion of a match, which would have resulted in the automatic award of a red card during the match.
• Participants awarded a Red Card, must leave the pitch and the surrounding area ‘immediately’ (allow them reasonable time to collect their belongings and leave). They must not remain in a place where they can continue to influence the match, so outside a cage but next to the pitch is not allowed. They can retreat to a club house or other facility connected to the match and they can discuss the matter with you after the match is concluded, provided this is done in a respectful and civil manner. Many players will apologise to umpires during such a discussion given the chance and this should be reflected on your report.

Offences are typically defined as ‘non-hockey’ actions – you can read more in the EH Spirit of Hockey Code of Conduct. A non-hockey action is exactly as it says – does the action have any place on a hockey pitch? If not, then it is usually a Red Card.

A Red Card can be awarded directly, or as a result of a player ignoring initial warnings which may have been delivered verbally or through the use of green and yellow cards. We would encourage you to involve the relevant Captain early and proactively with any participant who does not heed early warnings, to avoid such escalation. Nonetheless, a common Red Card award is for two Yellow Cards being given to the same player for the same offence.

Dissent remains the leading cause of Red Cards, where a player or other participant is abusive towards an umpire or other match official. To directly or indirectly accuse an umpire or other match official of cheating or bias is an immediate Red Card offence. This type of commentary should not be excused, even if offender claims that the umpire was not being directly addressed.

And finally: remember that you have lots of tools in your Management Toolkit – your voice (tone, pitch and language), your whistle, cards and body language/presence. You must manage the game to avoid tensions escalating as best you can, but if you need to award a Red Card, then do not avoid it! OG players and others can sometimes be heard talking about wanting to ‘avoid the paperwork’ – this is very unhelpful. You might have ‘thick skin’, but the umpires following you with that player or team deserve your respect by dealing with any unsatisfactory behaviour in the moment. As for the paperwork, well it’s an online form now, so that’s incorrect too…