Member v Sporting Body

The Applicant (Member) is a member of the Respondent, which is a national Sporting Body. The Respondent issued a Breach Notice and imposed sanctions on the Applicant in August 2023. The Applicant allegedly failed to comply with the sanctions imposed, and was subsequently issued a secondary Breach Notice and sanction in October 2023. The subsequent sanction is disputed by the Applicant. The dispute was referred to the NST pursuant to the Respondent’s Complaints, Disputes and Discipline Policy.

In early 2023, a complaint was lodged against the Applicant for making alleged unwanted advancements towards another member of the Respondent. The Respondent determined that the conduct was prohibited, and that it constituted harassment and sexual misconduct under the relevant Member Protection Policy. The Applicant was informed that he was prohibited from contacting the Complainant in writing or otherwise for two years, unless directly related to the club, committee, or sport, and any such contact must occur in the presence of at least one other adult, which includes copying that person on an email. 

In July 2023, the Applicant sent an email to multiple committee members including the Complainant. In a subsequent email, the Applicant emailed only the Complainant with no other adult copied in. This occurred again via email, and the Applicant also sent a text message to the Complainant for committee banking-related purposes. These two emails and one text message were considered to be in contravention of the Breach Notice, and the Respondent determined (in October 2023) that the Applicant should face a twelve-month suspension from the sport. 

This new sanction was found by the Tribunal to be wholly disproportionate to the contraventions in question. The Tribunal found it appropriate to suspend the Applicant from participating in the sport for a period of two weeks. Pursuant to the October Sanction, the Applicant had already served a suspension of almost two months; thus, the Tribunal Sanction had already been complied with and the Applicant is free to participate in the sport. 

Please note, in order to de-identify the parties and the sport, the NST has amended the wording of the determination as published to the parties.