The RFL Board this week approved amended On-Field Sentencing Guidelines for the 2025 season.
There are two significant changes to the Guidelines that were originally distributed to clubs in December, following feedback from clubs and consideration by the RFL’s Laws Committee on January 29.
First, players’ previous records up to the end of the 2024 season will be disregarded in the accumulation of penalty points – all players started 2025 on zero points. This is because it was considered unfair for players to be punished for offences committed in 2024 before the new guidelines were introduced.
Second, when an offence adds points to a player’s record that leads to the player receiving a sanction – either a fine or a suspension – the number of points added to their record for that offence will be reduced by 50%. This is to recognise that the player has previously served a sanction however there remains a percentage of points on the player’s record to acknowledge that they have committed previous misconduct.
With those amendments confirmed, the On-Field Sentencing Guidelines for 2025 were applied at a meeting of the Match Review Panel on Thursday February 6 considering incidents from last weekend’s fixtures in the Betfred Challenge Cup and the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup, as well as pre-season fixtures involving Betfred Super League clubs.
One further significant change to the guidelines for 2025 is to reflect punishments imposed during matches in any charges subsequently imposed – along the same principle as a punishment of “sending off sufficient” used to be imposed.
A player charged with on-field misconduct who has been dismissed in the first half of a match will receive two points fewer on their record than the stipulated penalty for the charge – so a player dismissed for a Grade D offence in the first half of a match would receive 10 penalty points rather than 12.
Dismissal in the second half would mean a one-point readjustment.
In the unlikely event that a player does not have enough points on their disciplinary should points be removed (for example where a player with no previous points is dismissed in the first half and charged with a Grade A offence), their disciplinary record will restart at zero disciplinary points.
However the principle of players suffering additional punishment for offences that remove opposition players from the match remains – if the victim of a foul is removed from the field of play and unable to return because of charged misconduct, the transgressor will receive an additional three points on their disciplinary record – so a Grade D charge would carry 15 points rather than 12.
Head Coach Jake Webster said “Following the highly publicised incident with Brad England at Odsal Stadium on December 22nd, I believe these changes are much welcome. Although that doesn’t help Brad who has essentially served an additional game ban while the on-field sentencing process was refined. We, as a club have been in constant dialogue with the RFL regarding these guidelines and they are aware that Brad is a stand-out case and has fallen foul of the adjustment in these guidelines.”
“As a club I think we can be proud we were vocal about the system and I am pleased the RFL have listened to live feedback of the mechanics. Brad is a highly respected senior member of the team at Keighley Cougars and I look forward to having him back on the field.”
