Members of the TTS and players, parents/guardians of Junior* players and persons under its jurisdiction are expected to behave in a manner which does not bring the sport into disrepute.
Players and officials who are selected for Scotland, or who wish to be selected, are expected to show themselves at all times to be suitable ambassadors for the sport, and behave in a manner benefitting a representative of the TTS.
The following types of offence would be considered a breach of the Code of Conduct, and may lead to sanctions. The list below is not intended to be comprehensive.
WHILE UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE TTS
- Displays of bad temper, swearing or shouting
- Unsportsmanlike behaviour towards opponents
- Discourteous or abusive behaviour to match officials, other players, or members of the public in any public place
- Abuse of equipment
- A player defaulting from a tournament without due cause
- A player found guilty of misuse of drugs
- A player under 18 found guilty of consuming alcohol
- Failure to follow the instructions of NPC and/or TTS officials while at a TTS selected event
WHILE IN ACCOMMODATION BOOKED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE TTS OR STTA
- Disrespect for the properties property or neighbourhood
- Disrespect for other residents – including your own room-mates
- Disobedience of any of the house rules imposed by the hotel or boarding establishments
AT ALL TIMES
- Members of TTS, parent/guardians, officials and players are expected to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner with due respect for other players, officials, parents and guardians and to refrain from any behaviour likely to bring the sport into disrepute
SANCTIONS
A breach of the code may result in, but is not limited to, one or more of the following sanctions:
- For junior players, reporting of the incident to parent(s) either during or immediately after TTS trip
- In extreme cases the offender may be asked to return home, or in the case of juniors, arrangements made for the offender to be collected by a parent and taken home
- Reporting of the incident to the Disciplinary Committee
A breach of the Code could also lead to de-selection from a TTS event, and it could jeopardise future selections.
REPORTING TO THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE
Any person may make a report of an alleged infringement of the Code of Conduct to the Chairman of the TTS, or a Director of the Board of Management. If a Director receives a complaint he/she must refer it to the Chairman. If the matter is considered serious enough to be reported to the Disciplinary Committee a full report in writing must be provided within 21 days of it being reported, to the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee. The Chairman (male or female) will be appointed by the Board of TTS and need not be a member of TTS.
DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE
The Disciplinary Committee may impose a warning, suspension, ban on, or take appropriate action against, member of the TTS, or persons and players under its jurisdiction, or parents/guardians of junior players who contravene the code of conduct.
Note: that the disciplinary committee may consider a player and the parent(s) or guardian(s) of the player as a unit when considering appropriate sanctions whether or not there is any jurisdiction over the parent.
The standard of proof will be the balance of probability.
The disciplinary committee will consist of a minimum of 3 TTS members appointed for each specific case by the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee. Upon receiving a written report concerning any allegations, the accused will be informed of the charge made and will be invited to give personal view, in writing, within 28 days of receipt of the notification. The Chairman will also convene a hearing of the Disciplinary Committee within a further 28 days at which hearing the Disciplinary Committee will hear representations from the Board of TTS and from the accused, either of whom may be represented. A written decision will be issued by the Disciplinary Committee within a further 28 days.
An accused person may appeal against disciplinary action taken against him or her, other than against a written warning with regard to future conduct. The Chairman must receive any appeal within 28 days of the postmark notifying the player of the disciplinary action.
Appeal
An appeal will be heard by an appeals committee appointed by the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee and authorised by the Board. The Appeals Committee will meet within 28 days of appointment by the Board and may meet within a few days in order to deal promptly with fixed penalty appeals. Those who appeal against fixed penalties must submit written arguments with their appeal and if they wish to attend to the Appeals Committee to give evidence in person must be available to do so at short notice.
Those appointed to hear an appeal might confirm, set aside, reduce or increase any penalties previously imposed. If the appeals committee considers the appeal to be frivolous or brought solely to delay the onset of a fixed penalty, it may impose a fine of the person bringing the appeal to cover the costs of the appeal. Membership of TTS will be suspended if the fine is not paid after 28 days until such time as it is paid and this may be applied to parents/guardians and offspring considered as a unit.
The code of Conduct will apply in all table tennis related events, including those out with Scotland.
Fixed Penalty System
- TTS will monitor the yellow and red cards and other disciplinary measures issued to or taken against TTS registered players in any event.
- TTS will further monitor unacceptable or undisciplined behaviour by all TTS registered players whether or not any disciplinary action is taken at the time. The Director of Performance & Excellence will decide on the means whereby yellow or red cards or other disciplinary measures are deemed to have been appropriate and deemed to have been awarded.
- TTS will monitor the conduct of players in the various National Training Squads insofar as it conforms to or departs from the undertakings contained in the Players contract. Departures from the contract may result in temporary or permanent exclusion from the squad. Players not in the National Squad are not eligible for selection during the period of exclusion, even though the actual event may fall after the period of exclusion. Selection for International events will not be delayed to allow players to become eligible.
- The Director of Performance and Excellence will decide on the means whereby departures from the Players contract will be evaluated. The following sanctions will be automatically applied once the fact of their occurrence has been so established.
- Failure to turn up for Squad training without pre-arrangement – one month’s suspension.
- Failure to stay at a Squad training sessions until the end without a valid reason, feigning illness and providing no doctors certificate – one moths suspension.
- Failure to represent Scotland when selected to do so without a pre-arranged agreement or valid reason – three months suspension.
- For more than one of the above offences in the same season the penalty is doubled each time, until the player is excluded for the remainder of the current season.
- Points are to be awarded against players as follows:
- A yellow card or ‘deemed’ yellow card (3 points)
- A red card or ‘deemed’ red card (4 points)
- Disqualified from an event within a tournament (8 points)
- Disqualified from an entire tournament (12 points)
- Players who amass 12 points or more will:
- If National Squad players, may be suspended from the National Squad for a period deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors.
- will be given a warning as to their future conduct.
(Following the Suspension and/or ban, 12 points only will be expunged from the players points score. Remaining points will be carried forward)
- Players who amass 24 or more points will:
- If National Squad Players, be automatically suspended from the National Squad for a time deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors.
- National Squad Players the case will be reported to the D.C.
- In either of the above cases, where the penalty threshold is crossed in May or later in the season, the suspension and/or ban will continue until the end of October of that Calendar year.
(Following the suspension and/or ban, all points will be expunged from the player’s records)
- All points are expunged at the end of the season.
- The automatic penalties stipulated here operate in addition to any disciplinary measures that may follow an investigation in accordance with the disciplinary code. For example, a player who is disqualified will incur the penalty points and potential penalty described above, and the players may also be the subject of a disciplinary committee where, for example, the behaviour that led to and/or accompanied the disqualification might have brought the sport into TTS disrepute. The disciplinary committee will take into account any fixed penalty already incurred for the behaviour.
* Juniors means in this context under 18 years old as defined by the age restrictions of the ITTF.