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Notices Notice number 1/2011 from the Darts Regulation Authority 16th August 2011 As the Chair of the DRA I believe that it may be helpful to periodically notify players of the current view taken by the DRA on historic and emerging issues. Since I have taken on the role there are a number of issues that might benefit from such a notification. 1. Notification of referrals, letters and e-mails to players or members There have been a number of instances where players have claimed not to receive e-mails or notifications sent to them by the DRA. In order to address this, the DRA will send an e-mail to the e-mail address that is registered with the PDPA and PDC. Notification of that a player has been referred will also be sent to the PDPA who will contact the player. A letter will also be sent to the address registered by the player with the PDPA and PDC. Where a player or member is charged with an offence the notification will be considered served where an e-mail is sent to his or her registered e-mail address or a letter to their registered address. Please note that the responsibility rests with players and members to ensure that their contact details are up to date and accurately recorded with the PDC and PDPA. The DRA will notify the PDPA when a player is referred to the DRA. 2. The Discipline Process The members of the DRA Disciplinary Committee are keen to speed up the process of discipline and where there is an allegation of the breach of the DRA rules, once the necessary facts have been established the player or member will have 14 days to respond, shortly after which the DRA Disciplinary Committee will hold a hearing to deal with the allegation. If a player or member is in receipt of a
notification of a breach of the rules from the DRA it is important that the player or member responds within the
time specified in the letter. An early response with explanation/apology is helpful when the Disciplinary Committee
decide on the outcome. Lack of response can affect the penalty that may be imposed. 3. Where a fine is levied by the Disciplinary Committee If the fine is not paid within the time allowed the Penalty will be increased by 50%. Failure to pay the fine by the due date without prior dispensation from the DRA may constitute a further offence. Should a player or member fail to pay the fine they may be immediately suspended from all DRA sanctioned events until the DRA Disciplinary Committee sits to hear the circumstances of the default.
Once there has been a default, the player or member will not be eligible to enter any DRA sanctioned tournament merely upon the payment of any outstanding fine.
4. Players failing to complete a match There have been recent instances of players failing to complete matches. This appears to have been due to frustration on the part of players where they were not playing well. It needs to be made clear that this is not acceptable to other players, to the PDC, to the PDPA, to sponsors or to the betting industry. Although the motivation may be frustration it could be questioned as being match fixing and have an impact on other players rankings and their qualification for tournaments. Where a player does not complete a match they will be referred to the DRA for a breach of DRA rules. It is essential that players compete to the best of their ability at all times and complete matches they are engaged in. 5. Use of social networking sites There have been recent well publicised issues surrounding the use of twitter, facebook and other social networking sites. Players need to act responsibly when using these sites and remember that these are public forums. Inappropriate comments posted relating to other players or various organisations could be seen as harming the reputation of the sport and could lead to a referral to the DRA.
Nigel Mawer Chair of the Darts Regulation Authority |
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