All Rugby Unions have received the following Letter from BokSmart, notifying them of the requirements for next year.
A bit longwinded but interesting.
BokSmart letter to Unions:
The South African Rugby Union’s (SARU) nationnal rugby safety programme BokSmart has succcessfully conducted more than 675 rugby safety workshops across the 14 South African Rugby Unions with a total of 15460 coaches and refferees having been certified since its launch in July 2009.
This achievement leaves the BokSmart programmme on track to realise its target of certifying as many coaches and referees as possible nationally by the end of the year, before major new rugby safety regulations come into force at all levels of the game in 2011.
Our intentions are to ensure that the concept of BokSmart reaches as many coaches and referees nationally, and we call on your (professional and amateur) representative coaches and referees to act as ambassadors to the project by promoting rugby safety by doing the course. The course is not examinable and is purely attendance based.
These new rules (attached for refereence) specify that provinces, clubs, rugby bodies and schools will not be allowed to host any matches without ensuring that all match officials and participating coaches are BokSmart certified.
As a proactive measure, it is recommended for all new or renewed Provincial and National Representative Coaching staff that their contracts include a clause specifying that the applicant or candidate has to be BokSmart Certified.
All the Referees on the national panel have already done the course. Albeit it not directly aimed at them, by attending the course, this will provide your top coaches with the knowledge of what the programme is actually about, and they will have a better understanding of the problems we are currently dealing with.
Provinces have also bound themselves to the BokSmart Rugby Safety Programme, and this means that the top level coaches are also liable for sanctions and penalties should they not comply with these regulations as of 1 January 2011.
We would not like to have a situation next year when media start questioning why the Provincial Representative/Super Rugby coaching-staff have not done the course as this would be negative for SARU and the Provinces’ image, detrimental to our game and undesirable for you.
However we would like to thank the Unions who have gone the extra mile to ensure that their top professional and amateur coaches have sat in and attended the BokSmart course. Their positive attitude towards our project has also been communicated through all our Communication and Media platforms at SARU.
I therefore look forward to receiving notification from Unions that their Super Rugby and/or representative coaching staff at all levels have been BokSmart Certified before the end of the year.
SARU Regulations on BokSmart Rugby Safety Workshops:
1. A province, club, rugby body or school shall adopt these regulations, and amendments thereto shall only be permitted if it is more stringent on its members.
2. A province, club, rugby body or school must ensure that it complies with these regulations and must further ensure that it takes appropriate action to inform each and every one of its members of the terms of these regulations and the obligation to comply with same.
3. Any person who coaches a rugby team or assists in the coaching of a team in whatever capacity has to be BokSmart certified and licensed accordingly.
4. Any person who officiates as a referee, assistant referee or match official in a rugby match has to be BokSmart certified and licensed accordingly in order to officiate as such.
5. The referee, assistant referees, match officials, coaches, assistant coaches or any person alleging to be the coach and any person in a coaching role who intends to enter the playing enclosure during a match have to provide proof of their BokSmart certification to the match manager / secretary of the province, club, rugby body or school hosting a match.
6. If the referee or any one of the assistant referees are not BokSmart certified, or they cannot provide proof of their BokSmart certification, the match shall be abandoned for safety reasons, unless they can be replaced by level appropriate BokSmart certified match officials who can provide proof of BokSmart certification.
7. If the coach or the person alleging to be the coach, or any person acting in a coaching capacity for any of the participating teams, is not BokSmart certified, the match shall be abandoned.
8. Should a coach or the person alleging to be the coach, or any person in a coaching capacity allege to be BokSmart certified, but is not in a position to produce proof thereof, the match shall proceed subject thereto that such person(s) shall not be allowed on or next to the field of play during the match. They also have to produce their BokSmart certification licence to the match manager / secretary of the province, club, rugby body or school, as the case may be, on the first working day after the match.
9. The province, club, rugby body or school shall not be allowed to host any match without ensuring that the referee and assistant referees officiating in such matches and the coaches and assistant coaches of the participating teams are BokSmart certified.
10. The referee shall not allow any person, excluding players and qualified medical staff, on the field of play who is not BokSmart certified. The BokSmart certification has to be presented to the match official by the person intending to enter the playing field.
11. It is the responsibility of provinces, clubs, rugby bodies and schools to ensure that every referee, assistant referee, match official, coach and assistant coach affiliated to such province, club, rugby body or school are BokSmart certified and they shall keep a proper record thereof for auditing purposes by the province and / or SARU, and the Serious Injury Task Team (SITT) investigations, as the case may be.
12. The BokSmart certification shall be valid for 2 (two) years at a time, whereafter it must be renewed, subject to 13 below.
13. The BokSmart certification shall only be renewed after the successful completion of the latest BokSmart course. A 2 on the licence card in order to undergo such course.
14. For every competition the approved fixture list of the province, club, rugby body or school, the match referee has to submit an official referee’s report to the province or to SARU, whichever is applicable, indicating the BokSmart certification status of himself and other match officials within 72 (seventy two) hours of completion of the match.
15. The following shall be recorded on the referee’s report:
15.1 The Match Referee’s Full Names, contact number and BokSmart certification code e.g. BS
15.2 All Assistant Referees’ and Match Officials’ contact numbers, full names and BokSmart certification codes
16. For every competition the approved fixture list of the province, club, rugby body or school, the match manager / secretary of the province, club, rugby body or school has to submit a report to the province or to SARU, whichever is applicable, indicating the BokSmart certification status of coaches and assistant coaches of the teams, and those, excluding players and qualified medical staff, who entered the field of play during the match within 72 (seventy two) hours of completion of the match. The full names, contact numbers and BokSmart certification codes shall be recorded on the report.
17. Any breach of these regulations shall be dealt with in accordance with the applicable Judicial and Disciplinary Regulations. The Judicial Officer, Judicial Committee, Appeal Officer or Appeal Committee shall apply the recommended sanctions as referred to in the applicable Judicial and Disciplinary regulations.
18. In addition to the recommended penalties prescribed by the disciplinary and judicial regulations, the following minimum penalties shall apply:
18.1. Should the referee or assistant referee officiate in a match without being BokSmart certified – 3 match suspension and shall remain suspended until they have obtained BokSmart certification.
18.2 Should a team participate in a match, without the coach or assistant coach being BokSmart certified – 3 match suspension of the coach and / or assistant coach and shall remain suspended until they have obtained BokSmart certification.
18.3 Should the referee allow any assistant referee to officiate in a match without being BokSmart certified
18.4 Should a referee allow any coach, assistant coach or any official on the playing field who is not BokSmart certified – 3 match suspension of the referee.
18.5 Should the province, club, rugby body or school hosting a match either allow a referee or assistant referees to officiate in a match and / or allow such match to continue with coaches and assistant coaches of the participating teams who are not BokSmart certified – the province, club, rugby body or school hosting the match will be declared the losers and forfeit any league points or trophies (if applicable). The visiting team will be declared the winners and be awarded with maximum league points or be awarded with the trophy (if applicable).
19. These regulations will be enforceable from 1 January 2011.