In the 2024 season, the Northern Football Netball League will be trialling a new card system to cut out umpire abuse among coaches and officials. 

The White Card initiative was introduced by AFL Queensland in 2022 and shortly followed by the Eastern Football Netball League, among other Leagues, which trailed the system in 2023.

In 2024, the NFNL will trial the system across all junior competitions.  

Following isolated instances of poor behaviour, in a proactive stance, the NFNL have adopted the system that puts the onus on the head coach to be a leader of the team, and more broadly a positive role model for our junior participants.  

Where unacceptable behaviours are emanating from the Coaching Box, a three-phase system will be undertaken by the field umpire/s via the use of White and Red cards to stop such behaviours in real-time. 

- Phase One is a warning and free kick (white card shown).
- Phase Two is an additional warning, a free kick and 25m penalty for the opposing side (White card shown).
- Phase Three, the Head Coach will be reported and ejected from the game. The opposing side will also receive a free kick and a 25m penalty (Red card shown). 

The responsibility of managing the behaviour of the coach’s box will be up to the team’s head coach. The named head coach on the day will be liable for the behaviour inside the box where under the third phase, the coach will be removed from the box and placed on report.

Following this, the league-appointed MRO will determine the course of action through the tribunal. 

“The white card system has been a tremendous success in neighbouring leagues for several years now, after due consideration we felt it was time the NFNL embrace this system to bolster the support for our young junior umpires.” NFNL CEO, Martin Stillman said. 

“The league will continue to look to improve and evolve and ultimately support our umpires through new, innovative ideas. Fortunately, the NFNL community as a whole are generally extremely well behaved, and this is a credit to the clubs and the culture and values installed within our league, so we hope this system isn’t required often in 2024.”