Brad England was today issued with a Grade D Charge – Reckless physical contact with a match official, following the City of Culture Clash at Odsal Stadium, resulting in 12 points added to his disciplinary record.

Including the Penalty Points accrued for this charge, Brad’s total Penalty Points is 18, which are carried over from the previous disciplinary system. Accordingly, the Penalty Notice imposed is a 3 Match Penalty Notice.

In the same game Elliott Cousins received 3 penalty points for a Grade B offence – Dangerous Contact, which resulted in his sin-binning in the first half.

This terminology may be new for fans, so here is an in depth look at the new On Field Sanctioning system for 2025.

The new system is that players are only sanctioned when they reach a set number of points. Therefore, if a player were to be charged with On Field misconduct you would not instantly receive a sanction as is currently the case.

Charge grades are now allocated points which players will accumulate and will be rescinded after a period, so they do not remain on a players record. Rather like a UK Driving License.

Points are allocated as follows;

Grade A – 1 point
Grade B – 3 points
Grade C – 5 points
Grade D – 12 points
Grade E – Refer to Tribunal

The points tarrif is as follows;

0-2 No further action
3-5 Fine
6-8 1 match suspension
9-11 1 match suspension and a fine
12-14 2 match suspension
15-17 2 match suspension and a fine
18-20 3 match suspension
21-23 3 match suspension and a fine
24-26 4 match suspension
27-29 4 match suspension and a fine
30-32 5 match suspension
33-35 5 match suspension and a fine
36-38 6 match suspension and a fine
39-41 7 match suspension and a fine
42-44 8 match suspension and a fine
45-47 9 match suspension and a fine
48-50 10 match suspension and a fine
51-53 11 match suspension and a fine
54 + 12 match suspension plus and a fine

Where players reach 24 points or more, they will automatically be referred to the Operational Rules Tribunal to determine the appropriate sanction which can range from match suspension (s), points allocation to a players record and/or monetary fines.

Similarly, where players commit a Grade E offence and are automatically referred to the Tribunal, the Operational Rules Tribunal are to determine the appropriate sanction which can range from match suspension(s), points allocation to a players record and/or monetary fines.

There are some aggravating and mitigating factors in the new system;

Where an opponent is removed from the field of play and unable to return because of charged misconduct will constitute an additional 3 points being allocated to that player disciplinary record.

Where a player is charged with on field misconduct but has been dismissed in the first half will constitute a removal of 2 points from a player’s disciplinary record. Where aplayer is charged with on field misconduct but has been dismissed in the second half will constitute a removal of 1 point from a player’s disciplinary record. In the unlikely event that a player does not have enough points on their disciplinary should points be removed, for example where a player is charged with a Grade A offence (1 disciplinary point) but was dismissed in the first half (removal of 2 disciplinary points) and they have zero disciplinary points on their disciplinary record, their disciplinary record will restart at zero disciplinary points on their disciplinary record.

Under the new system, should a club or player fail in respect of a challenge to a Grade A to D charge at an Operational Rules Tribunal hearing, then 5 points will automatically be added to the points allocated to the initial charge of On Field misconduct and any resulting tariff imposed. For example, if a player receives a Grade A offence and is issued with 1 point on top of his current record of 0 points and decides to challenge the imposition of the Penalty Notice and fails in their challenge, then the player will receive an additional 5 points meaning they have 6 points and will receive a 1 Match suspension as per the points tariff.

The RFL feels that this is a reasonable and proportionate measure to deter Players and Clubs from advancing challenges in certain circumstances.

A player’s points would be removed 12 months after the date that the charge came into effect.

The club will take all the above into account and review in full the incident on the field and make an internal decision on how to handle the incident.