Grievance and Disciplinary Committee

A Grievance and Disciplinary Committee will be appointed to handle any disciplinary issues that occur during the tournament. This committee will be an independent group that will investigate where a red card is issued or a formal disciplinary report is filed against any individual attending the tournament. This may include reports filed against any player, team official, referee or spectator for any breach of the Code of Conduct or Melbourne City FC’s Child Safeguarding Policy. A red card does not need to be issued for the committee to consider an incident where a report has been filed.

Evidence may be gathered on an incident via written statements or interviews from representatives from both teams involved, event staff, appointed referees and any independent witnesses who observed the incident. Video evidence can only be used where it is supplied from an independent party. Under no circumstances will video footage be accepted from parties associated with the incident. The committee will assess all available reports related to an incident before determining an outcome.

The committee has the jurisdiction to hand down penalties against any player, team official, spectator, team or club attending the tournament. Penalties may include warnings or suspension of individuals, teams or clubs attending the tournament from the current or any future event run by the Australian Football Skool, Sports Group Melbourne or Melbourne City FC. Please note the committee cannot impose penalties in competitions run by other bodies including Football Victoria competitions. The committee cannot withdraw any red cards issued in a game. This can only be done by the referee.

The nature of tournament football means that investigations may need to be conducted as quickly as possible before the next game that the teams involved in the incident are due to play however this is not always possible. If a party is unwilling to submit reports regarding an incident by the requested time or comply with any reasonable request for a report, then the committee may assess the incident on the reports available to them at the time.

To ensure fairness to all parties, the committee may choose only to hand down penalties where there is matching evidence from multiple sources. Where there is not matching evidence, or the evidence is conflicting between reports, then the committee may not be able to issue penalties.

Decisions handed down by the committee are final and cannot be appealed however the committee may choose to reassess a decision if more evidence becomes available.

Please note that all reports are treated as confidential and will not be shared with other parties. Where the tournament receives a request for information from Victoria Police for any reports, then the committee will provide reports directly to the requesting officer.