The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League (an Australian rules football competition).
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Source: AFL Tribunal 2011 Guidebook [1] Prior to 2005, any player who was reported would face a hearing at the AFL Tribunal. This process had become problematic, and in 2005, a new system (similar to that used by the NRL Judiciary at the time) was adopted. The changes were primarily made to reduce the number of tribunal hearings, and to improve the consistency of penalties.
The current tribunal process is as follows:
On-field umpires and certain off-field observers can report players for incidents which occur curing games. On the Monday after the round of football, each incident is then reviewed by the Match Review Panel, a small panel of former players and umpires. Within the review, the Match Review Panel grades the severity of the incident in three factors, and awards activation points depending upon the severity. The three factors are:
The activation points from all three categories are added together to give the total activation points points for the incident. It is important to note that an incident involving accidental/incidental conduct, or negligible impact, will be rejected and the player will receive no penalty, even if the activation points in the other categories are high.
Next, activation points are converted into an offence level:
Next, the player is given a number of base demerit points, based on the type and level of his offence. The base demerit point totals are standardised in the Table of Offences. As an example, any player charged by the Match Review Panel with a Level 4 Kicking offence receives 550 base demerit points. This is where the Match Review Panel's role in the Tribunal process ends.
Following the Match Review Panel's findings, a player's base points are subjected to a series of additions and deductions (which are described in the next section) to arrive at a number of total demerit points. Each 100 total demerit points that a player finishes with then corresponds to a suspension for one match; e.g. a player who finished with 225 demerit points will receive a two-match suspension. If a player finishes with fewer than 100 demerit points, he is not suspended, but receives what is known as a reprimand.
Because the penalty is standardised and pre-announced by the Match Review Panel, the player has the option to plead guilty to the charge and receive his penalty without the need to attend a Tribunal hearing; he receives a deduction for doing this (see next section). Alternatively, a player may choose to appeal the findings of the Match Review Panel, and attend a Tribunal hearing to argue the case. Players may appeal to try to have their entire charge withdrawn, or may argue for a reduction in one of the three factors; e.g. a player could try to have the conduct factor reduced from reckless to negligent.
If an incident is ungraded (i.e. has nine activation points), the player is required to attend a tribunal hearing.
Residuals (also called carry-over points) are the points "left over" after a suspension; e.g., a player with 225 demerit points is suspended for two weeks (equivalent to 200 points), and the remaining 25 are residual points; or, if a player receives a reprimand with 93.75 points, all of these points are residual. Residual points from a previous offence will be added to the base demerit points of the player's next offence if it occurs within one year; if one year elapses, a player's residual points are cancelled.
Additions (sometimes called "loading") are additional penalties applied to players with a poor tribunal record. To calculate the addition, an additional 10% of the base demerit points are added for every match for which the player was suspended over the previous three years, with a maximum of 50%; e.g. a player suspended for three matches will receive a 30% loading, while one suspended for seven matches will receive a 50% loading.
Any player with more than five years experience who has not been found guilty of an offence attracting demerit points over the previous five years receives a 25% deduction.
Any reportable offence that occurs during a Grand Final match will receive an addition equal to the offence's original base score as determined by the Match Review Panel. This addition is applied after the additions and deductions previously mentioned.
Finally, players will receive a 25% deduction by accepting the Match Review Panel's finding without contest; this is typically known as an early guilty plea. As a result of this rule, players are often faced with the option of accepting a shorter suspension with an early plea, or contesting the charge and risking a longer suspension if unsuccessful. Note that if a player contests the match review panel's assessment at the Tribunal, and successfully has the number of base demerit points changed, he is then given the opportunity to accept that new sanction with the deduction for an early guilty plea, despite having appeared at a tribunal hearing.
The final offence score is thus calculated from this series of discrete steps:
Each addition or deduction is made to the final result of the previous calculation step.
The Match Review Panel also assesses a variety of offences for which players are fined but not suspended, including wrestling, negligent contact with an umpire, making an obscene gesture, etc. As for physical offences, there is a standardised table of penalties, which depend upon the nature of the offence, and any prior similar offences; e.g. a player's second wrestling offence attracts double the penalty of his first. As for physical offences, a player can accept his penalty with an early guilty plea, receiving a 25% reduction in his fine, or he may contest it and risk the full penalty.
If a player wishes to appeal against a decision handed down in a tribunal hearing, he may take his case to the AFL Appeals Board. The board will re-hear the case, with a different set of panel members, and may uphold or change the Tribunal's original decision. The Appeals Board was established in 1998 following a recommendation from Justice John Hedigan of the Supreme Court of Victoria, after several tribunal findings were appealed through the Victorian court system during the mid-1990s.[1]
Since the overhaul, the heaviest suspension for a single offence has been an eight week suspension handed out to Fremantle's Dean Solomon for elbowing Geelong's Cameron Ling in round 15 of the 2008 season.
In Round 4, 2008 Barry Hall of the Sydney Swans was suspended for seven matches after striking West Coast's Brent Staker. In 2007, Steven Baker of St Kilda was suspended for seven matches for rough conduct on Jeff Farmer (although the base suspension was only four weeks, with residual points and a loading for his poor record inflating the number to seven).[3]
In June 2010, St Kilda's Steven Baker was suspended for a total of nine weeks after he pled guilty to three striking charges and was found guilty of a misconduct charge, all against Geelong's Steve Johnson.[4] He was the first person to be charged with misconduct for interfering with an injured opponent.[5]
Longest suspension
Qualification - 20 matches
| Player | Charges | Season | Matches suspended | Club |
| Doug Fraser | Bribery | 1910 | 99 | Carlton |
| Alex Lang | Bribery | 1910 | 99 | Carlton |
| Fred Rutley | 2 x kicking, 3 x striking and melee involvement | 1925 | 892 | North Melbourne |
| Bill Burns | Kicking | 1909 | 462 | Richmond |
| George Topping | Striking | 1910 | 35 | Carlton |
| Bert Franks | Abusing and threatening umpire | 1910 | 332 | South Melbourne |
| Tommy Downs | Kicking | 1931 | 29 | Carlton |
| Percy Sheehan | Striking and melee involvement | 1910 | 28 | Carlton |
| Jack Shorten | Striking and melee involvement | 1910 | 28 | Collingwood |
| Arthur Coghlan | Striking and melee involvement | 1925 | 26 | Geelong |
| Stan Thomas | Elbowing, striking and melee involvement | 1925 | 26 | Geelong |
| Dan Keily | Sustained abuse of umpire | 1917 | 24 | Carlton |
| Ben Cousins | Bringing the game into disrepute | 2007 | 24 | West Coast |
| Arthur Ford | Abusing and threatening umpire | 1910 | 23 | Carlton |
| Wally Warden | Kicking | 1928 | 22 | Footscray |
| Tom Baxter | Striking and melee involvement | 1910 | 211 | Collingwood |
| Ted Whitfield | Attempting to strike umpire, abusing umpire, and 2 x other misconduct | 1945 | 21 | South Melbourne |
| Dick Condon | Sustained abuse of umpire | 1900 | 202 | Collingwood |
| Billy Gent | 3 x striking | 1904 | 20 | South Melbourne |
| George Holden | Striking | 1911 | 20 | Fitzroy |
| Peter Reville | 3 x striking | 1934 | 20 | South Melbourne |
| Phil Carman | Striking and headbutting umpire | 1980 | 20 | Essendon |
| Chris Appleton | Gambling on AFL matches | 2010 | 20 | Goal umpire |
| Wayne Siekman | Gambling on AFL matches | 2010 | 20 | Interchange steward |
| John Wise | Gambling on AFL matches | 2010 | 20 | Interchange steward |
1 Baxter was later exonerated on appeal due to mistaken identity.
2 Prior to 1926, some players found guilty of serious offences were given a lifetime suspension, but in each case the penalty was later commuted.