Wellington Hockey Association (WHA) Introduce new Competition Environment Policy alongside minor tweaks to the Code of Conduct

Earlier this year, the WHA Board adopted the WHA Competition Environment Policy (CEP) alongside minor tweaks to the Code of Conduct. With two weeks of the competition now completed, and no noticeable difference in approach by Match Officials this is now being implemented going forward.

Originating from Auckland, and now adopted by Associations such as Waikato, North Harbour, Counties, Canterbury and Hawkes Bay, this Competition Environment Policy is becoming an important and effective tool for managing player misconduct. For use in our Open Grade and Secondary School competitions it gives us essentially, a further tool to:

1. hold players more accountable for their own behaviours, and

2. penalise teams for ongoing misconduct of the team as a whole.

What Misconduct is covered by the CEP?

• For the purposes of the CEP, Misconduct is defined as:

• Verbal or physical abuse, or hostility, towards any other Participant, person or any other member of the public.

• Disputing, protesting or reacting in a provocative or disapproving manner, in an inappropriate way, toward any decision made by an umpire or official.

• Charging or advancing towards an umpire or technical official in an aggressive manner while appealing.

• Using rude or abusive language or hand signals

• Abuse of any hockey equipment, or closing, or venue equipment

• Making any detrimental public statements (including electronic media)

WHA CEO Michael Langley noted that “2024 was a challenging year, with multiple instances where participant behaviour fell short of expectations and required judicial intervention.

The protection and support of our umpires and match officials is paramount. It’s important we have this new tool to continue to uphold what I believe is one of hockey’s strengths – a low tolerance for misconduct and a strong approach to dealing with this swiftly on-turf.

At the same time, we didn’t just want to launch this and deal with unintended consequences. It’s important this new tool didn’t change Officials approaches, and it’s pleasing to see this has been the case over the first two weeks of the season, and why we are launching this today.

We see this benefiting the entirety of the Hockey community as it allows us to support, recruit, and retain umpires across all grades, and improve the overall Hockey experience for all participants.”

How does it work?

Players (from April 7th):

• If a player accrues six penalty points for misconduct, they will be automatically stood down for a match. Three points then remain on their record.

• If a player receives or accrues a further three (or subsequent) points for misconduct, they will automatically be stood down for a match and need to front a judicial hearing

Based on cards issued in 2024:

• 14 players would have received an automatic one match standdown, and

• Two players would have received a second automatic standdown and had to front the judicial committee

Teams (from April 7th):

• If a team accrues 18 penalty points for misconduct, they will be automatically deducted four competition points.

• If a team accrues 24 penalty points for misconduct, they will be automatically deducted a further eight competition points.

• If a team accrues 30 penalty points for misconduct, they will be required to front the judicial committee who will determine an appropriate sanction.

Based on cards issued in 2024:

• One team would have received an automatic points deduction

For further information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Michael, WHA CEO.

You can download these documents below for your reference, which are also available under Key Documents & Policies.