Verbal Abuse Rules
What verbal abuse is;
Verbal abuse includes bullying, defaming, trivializing, harassing, questioning, accusing, blaming, countering, lying, berating, taunting, put downs, abuse disguised as a joke, threatening, name-calling, yelling and raging
Verbal abuse can occur between Players to Official, Players to off ice official, Player to Player
Why it’s a problem;
Our Referees are quitting, impacting the high level of our game and therefore, our enjoyment of it
Players are disrespecting Officials and each other, taking away from the pleasure and enjoyment of players, officials and fans.
Referee Guidelines;
If a player on or off the playing surface verbally directly abuses an official, or another player in attempt to confront or elevate an existing confrontation, and continues after first being warned by the official (verbal warning) The Official is to call “two minutes and Ten, (2 and 10) Unsportsmanlike Behavior –Verbal abuse” The Scorekeeper will note “Unsports-VA” on the score sheet. If there is more than 10 minutes remaining, the player will serve his 10 minute penalty in the box. If there is less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, OR it’s a second offense OF THIS TYPE (Same call, same game) , the player must leave the playing surface AND sit out the next game. Score sheet should be noted after the game by the Official as to what occurred and the Ref in Chief should be notified. Please note that each offense carries a 2 and ten for calculation of penalty minutes. The affected team will have a player from the ice serve each of the two minutes or less.
Referee “notes”;
To call this penalty, the player must be directly verbally abusive to you, your partner, to another player or off ice official. Rolling eyes, throwing hands in the air, muttering etc. if warranting a call, should be promptly called “Unsportsmanlike” and a normal 2 minute penalty. To get the additional 10 and or game, the abuse must be directed as described above and at you or at another player.
Eg. Criticizing a call: “Hey Ref, what the hell! That’s icing!!” –stupid, but not verbal abuse vs. Hey Ref, take your head out of your @$$ you @$$hole, that’s icing- That IS verbal abuse. So, anything disrespectful to you as a person or as an official IS verbal abuse-simply disputing a call is not, as long as its done respectfully.
If a player continues verbal abuse from the penalty box, the Referee is to stop the game, asses a second “Unsportsmanlike-Verbal abuse “call and asses a Game Misconduct. The player will leave the playing surface and be suspended for the next game as this is a “second offense”. The team must serve the additional 2 minutes but are not required to sit someone for the 10 minutes.
The League Will:
After the RIC is notified, he will then inform the President and Vice President who will track these calls over the course of the season. Any player accumulating 3 of these “Unsports-VA” penalties in the same season will be suspended for the next 3 consecutive games (including playoffs). After returning from the suspension, if the player incurs an additional Unsports-VA” call after returning from suspension, that player will be suspended for the balance of the season (including playoffs) with no refund of dues. There is no Appeal of this suspension.