Suspensions
All suspensions are issued by the PAD Suspensions Subcommittee. Once a red card report is received, the subcommittee will review the referee’s report and issue a suspension in accordance with the NorCal Disciplinary Matrix published in the NorCal Handbook. Any suspension may be appealed to the full PAD Committee via the Suspension Appeal Form.
Suspension Process
All red cards issued in NorCal matches should be reported in the NorCal App by the referee.
Once reported, the player assigned the red card will automatically be suspended for their next match within the NorCal App. The NorCal League Office will review the referee report and rule on the length of suspension according to the NorCal Disciplinary Matrix.
Once a suspension is issued by the committee, it will be entered in the GotSport Suspension system. That ruling will be communicated to club and team officials via email, and the player or coach in question will be unavailable for selection onto a game-day roster; thus, their digital ID will be unavailable while they are suspended.
Player Suspensions
Players issued suspensions will be unavailable to add to any game-day roster in NorCal Premier competitions until their suspension is served. All suspensions must be served with a player’s primary team, regardless of which team they were issued the red card with. Players will not be able to participate in any NorCal matches with any team until they have served their full suspension with their primary team. A player’s primary team is defined as the team that they are “primary rostered” as players are only allowed to be a “primary” player on one team per club. Players do not need to be present to serve their suspension.
Any player found to be playing while serving a suspension will be considered an illegal player and will be subject to further suspension. Additionally, the club may be issued a fine, and the coach may be suspended for up to a year. It is the responsibility of the club to ensure that a player has sat out the appropriate number of games.
Coaches Suspensions
Coaches who are issued suspensions will be unavailable to add to the game-day roster of the team on which they received the red card with until their suspension is served. Coaches will only need to serve their suspension with the team with whom the violation occurred. They can coach other teams within their club while serving the suspension with the one team. NorCal Premier will provide a letter that a suspended coach can show opponents and referees explaining that the suspension applies only to coaching the team with whom the violation occurred. Requests for such letters should be sent to Cory Mason at cmason@norcalpremier.com.
It is the club’s responsibility to ensure that coaches are serving their suspension.
Coaches do not need to be present to serve their suspension.
Coaches found to be coaching illegally while suspended will face up to a year suspension.
