Ejection (sports)

In sports, an ejection (or dismissal or sending-off) is one of several disqualifying actions assessed to a player or coach by a game official (such as a referee or umpire), usually for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Many ejections occur for such actions as illegal fighting (or attempting to instigate a fight), persistent arguing with a game official, or blatant violations of the rules deemed serious. Usually, a warning is given to the offender before he/she is actually ejected.

When the offender is ejected, he/she must leave the immediate playing area; in most cases, this means going to the locker room or other part of the venue out of sight of the playing area, or in extreme cases, leaving the stadium grounds. In the case of many High School Associations, ejected players are required to stay with their coach in the team area, or an assistant coach may be required to leave the area with the player for supervision purposes. If a player or coach refuses to cooperate, additional sanctions may be levied (such as forfeiting a contest or being suspended).

Conditions for ejection by sport

Basketball

In NBA and most other basketball games, a player or coach is ejected from the game if he accumulates two technical fouls of an unsportsmanlike nature over the course of the game. Participants who commit fouls of violence or enter the stands are ejected summarily regardless of the number of technical fouls accumulated. Ejected players/coaches must leave the court area for the remainder of play, and must do so immediately, or else risk even heavier fines/suspensions. In the NBA, an ejection will result in, at minimum, a $1,000 fine; an ejection for leaving the bench during a fight carries at least a one-game suspension as well. In domestic games, refusing to leave after being ejected can result in a player being put on report. If being put on report does not provide enough encouragement for a player to leave the court, the official may award the game to the opposing team, regardless of score. Players who incur 16 technical fouls in a single NBA season are automatically suspended for one game; an additional suspension is imposed for each increment of two thereafter. Should a player receive the 16th technical foul in the last regular-season game, he will be suspended for the first game in the next season, unless if his team is in the playoffs, when he will be suspended for the first playoff game. In the playoffs, players are suspended if they receive seven technicals.

A significant rule change was made in 1981 whereby the NBA eliminated the ejection of a coach for three technical fouls caused by an illegal defense. Also, in the NBA ejections and suspensions are not permissible if a technical foul is caused by an excessive timeout, delay of game, accidental departure from the coach's box, the destruction of a backboard caused by a play (such as a dunk), defensive hanging on any part of the basket unit to successfully touch a ball (Rule 12), or any remaining in the game after six fouls when a team is out of players because of fouls, injuries, and ejections under Rule 3, Section I, paragraph b. These technical fouls are referenced as "Non-Unsportsmanlike Conduct Technical Fouls".

In FIBA sanctioned games, a player is ejected for two technicals (begins 1-1-2014), unsportsmanlike fouls or one disqualifying foul. Technical fouls in FIBA include swinging of elbows without contact and flopping, which are not fouls in the NBA. A coach can be ejected upon having incurred two coach technical fouls, or a combination of three bench and coach technical fouls. There is no separation regarding a "non-unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul," as in the NBA, so two delay of game violations result in an ejection.

In NFHS contests, ejected players must remain on the team bench, so that they may continue to be supervised by a coach or other adult team representative. If an adult team representative other than the head coach, such as an adult assistant coach, can provide supervision from the court and to the locker room for the duration of the contest, the player may leave the visual confines of the playing area with this representative.

In NCAA contests, ejected players are dismissed to the locker room; no adult supervision is required as NCAA players are assumed to be legally of adult age.

Basketball also features disqualification, also known as fouling out. A player who commits a certain number of personal fouls in a game (5 or 6 in most leagues), is removed from the game and is said to have "fouled out". Unlike ejection, disqualification is not considered a punitive action but rather a natural consequence of a very physical sport with many instances of contact. Disqualified players are permitted to remain on the bench with the team (instead of being sent to the locker room, as with an ejected player) and are not subject to any further penalties (such as fines or suspensions); they can resume play in their next game. In the NBA, a technical foul (which does not count towards suspension or ejection) is also assessed for re-entering a game after fouling out of a game in emergency situations listed in Rule 3, Section I when a team is reduced to five players. Once that occurs, a technical foul is charged if a player remains in the game after his sixth or subsequent foul, or as the last player to foul out, re-enters the game in case of injury to an eligible player that must be removed.

Disqualification also occurs at the high school level as the result of two technical fouls. Contrary to popular folklore, two technicals do not lead to automatic ejection, but instead, lead to disqualification. Due to this common misunderstanding, many disqualified players have ejected themselves, having committed severe unsporting acts after receiving their second technical foul.

Baseball

Despite having been ejected, manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Scott Steinmann continues to argue with umpire Nicholas Nolde.

In baseball, a player, coach or manager may be ejected from a game for unsportsmanlike conduct. The ejectable offense may be an excessively heated or offensive argument with an umpire, malicious game play (especially pitchers attempting to strike batters with the ball or a manager caught ordering his pitcher to do so), illegally applying a foreign substance to or otherwise tampering with a ball, using a corked bat, charging the mound, or otherwise fighting. Between players and umpires, there is a common understanding that a certain level of argument is permitted, but players who too vigorously question an umpire's judgment of balls and strikes, or argue a balk, may risk an ejection. Managers are ejected as soon as they argue balls and strikes, although they may come out to prevent their player from being ejected for doing the same.

Persons other than players, coaches and managers, such as spectators, ballpark staff, or members of the media, may be ejected at an umpire's discretion. Depending on the circumstances, spectators who are ejected may also face arrest and prosecution. Bat boys and ball boys may be ejected for not wearing proper safety equipment.

In some cases, an ejection is followed by a fine or a suspension by the league if the player, or manager or coach, reacts in a very hostile manner towards the umpire. Also, any ejection for malicious game play will normally result in a suspension. Some managers, such as Lou Piniella, occasionally engage in raving arguments with umpires to provoke an ejection, in hopes of inspiring a rally from their team. Former Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox holds the MLB record for most ejections with 161 while Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem holds the record for most ejections by an umpire with 251. Baseball has a rich vocabulary for describing ejections: a player or coach may be ejected, run, thrown out, banned, given the ol' heave-ho, sent to the clubhouse, hit the showers, tossed, kicked out, dumped, sent off, pitched, bounced out, canned, chucked, or booted.

American football

Any player or team official who commits a personal foul (i.e. striking, kicking, kneeing) against another player or team official, is unnecessarily rough against another player or team official, commits an act of unsportsmanlike conduct, or commits a palpably unfair act is liable to be disqualified from further participation if the act is found to be flagrant. Compared to other American sports (perhaps with the exception of Basketball), ejections in American football are relatively uncommon considering the physical nature of the sport. Any player or team official who fights with another player or team official, intentionally makes contact with or assaults a game official, or uses any item of equipment as a weapon is automatically ejected. If a player or team official is ejected, his team is assessed a 15-yard penalty, but if a player or team official is ejected for a palpably unfair act, the distance or score penalty will be determined by the referee after consultation with the other officials.

In high school football, a player or team official is automatically ejected if he/she receives two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the same game.

Association football

In association football, two penalty cards are in use, the red one signifying an ejection.

Main article: Misconduct (association football)

In association football, a player is dismissed from the field of play by the referee showing him/her a red card if (s)he commits a dismissable offense or has committed a second cautionable (yellow card) offense having already received a yellow card in the same game. The act of ejection is referred to in the sport as "sending off".

A difference between being dismissed in football and the above mentioned sports is that in football, a player may not be replaced, forcing his/her team to play a man down. Additionally, a dismissal in any professional league results in an automatic suspension of at least one match. In National Federation of State High School Associations games, however, a player who has earned two yellow cards is shown the red card and disqualified, but may be substituted for. The philosophy is to refrain from punishing the team because of the actions of one individual.

It is also possible for the manager or other team official to be "sent off", which requires him/her to leave his/her dugout and sit in the stands away from the touch line. This usually requires another member of the coaching staff to make decisions for the team, such as substitutes and formation. Also, depending upon the rules of the association presiding over the game, the manager or team official may not be allowed on the bench or to communicate with assistants for at least his/her team's next game.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most red cards administered in one game is 20, for a match played between Paraguayan teams Sportivo Ameliano and General Caballero. The match was subsequently abandoned.

Rugby football

In all codes of rugby, a player may be temporarily suspended for a period of the match. In rugby union and rugby league, the standard suspension period is 10 minutes (out of an 80-minute game). This is generally referred to as a 'yellow card' as players are generally shown one in a manner similar to association football. Suspended players are said to be sent to the sin bin and is signalled by the referee showing two outstretched hands to the offender (rugby league) or by a yellow card (rugby union). In the Northern Hemisphere it is not uncommon for referee's to use both red and yellow cards in rugby league, similar to rugby union. In rugby union sevens, which normally lasts 14 minutes (20 in finals), the suspension period is 2 minutes.

Temporary suspensions are usually given for repeated infringements (by either the same player or team), professional fouls and foul play, such as high tackles. A player cannot be replaced while temporarily suspended, though may be at the conclusion of the suspension period. Special conditions exist for when the suspended player is a front-row forward in rugby union to enable contested scrums to continue.

For more serious offences or a second infraction warranting a temporary suspension sanction, a player may be sent off for the rest of the game, with no replacement allowable, but special conditions exist in rugby union for the replacement of a sent-off front-row forward.

Referees also have the power to send team officials to the stands, similar to that in football.

Cricket

In cricket, there is no provision in the rules for a player to be ejected, as the spirit of the game is against behaviour reaching the point at which such action would be required. However, a player may be fined and/or suspended upon a post-game review of his/her conduct.

In keeping with the spirit of the game, however, the umpires have the power to eject a bowler from the team's bowling attack for the remainder of the innings (or in the case of a one-innings match or the second innings of a two-innings match, the remainder of the match) if the bowler, after having received one or two prior warnings (depending on prior offences), is guilty of throwing (law 24.4), ball-tampering (law 42.3), dangerous and unfair bowling (laws 42.6 and 42.7), or running onto the protected area of the pitch (law 42.12). Any bowler who is guilty of deliberately bowling a high full-pitched ball (law 42.9) is automatically ejected.

If a bowler is ejected, the umpires will direct the captain of the fielding team, once the ball is dead, to take the bowler off forthwith. If there is an over in progress when the bowler is ejected, it shall be completed by another bowler who shall neither have bowled the previous over nor be allowed to bowl the next over. The bowler thus ejected shall not bowl again in that innings.

The Laws of Cricket (MCC)

Ice hockey

See also: Penalty (ice hockey)

In ice hockey, there are several types of ejections for penalties: a "game ejection", "game misconduct penalty", "match penalty", and formerly "gross misconduct penalty".

During games sanctioned by Hockey Canada, a "game ejection" is issued for three stick infraction penalties and is rather rare. These penalties include cross checking, high sticking, butt ending, slashing, and spearing.

A game misconduct penalty is usually issued against a player for unsportsmanlike play, escalating a fight, or leaving the penalty box before he has completed serving time for another penalty, although some major penalties carry an automatic game misconduct. If a player incurs three game misconducts in a season, (s)he will be given a one-match ban. The player must leave the ice immediately, and a substitute may take over. However, if any other penalties are incurred by the ejected player in the same incident, they must be served in the penalty box by the substituting player. By the USA Hockey rules a player can receive a game misconduct for violently checking an opponent into the boards from behind, or if the opponent's head strikes the boards or the goal frame as a result of the check from behind. It is also common knowledge that a player receive a game misconduct, regardless of the force of the hit, the second time (s)he checks an opponent from behind.

A match penalty is usually issued against a player for deliberately attempting to injure another player, such as stomping on him with his/her skate or a malicious hit. In addition to the offending player being immediately ejected (and usually subject to suspension), another player must serve a five-minute major penalty in the penalty box in addition to any other penalties imposed. The only exception is if a match penalty is against a goaltender, in which case the replacement goaltender can enter the ice immediately and a non-goaltender player serves the penalties. Match penalties may also be automatically flagged for review and supplementary discipline, depending on the league or association.

Prior to 2000, a gross misconduct was normally issued for an action far outside the normal level of acceptable behavior and was commonly given when a player has "made a travesty of the game".

Water Polo

An ejection is called when a foul is committed when the ball is in no possession. The player must move to the corner and switch with another player. The replacement player may not join play until a change of possession, turnover, or another foul is committed. Should the player be ejected more than three times, the player will be given a red card and will no longer be allowed back for the rest of the game.

Additional penalties

In some instances, a player or coach who is ejected must serve a suspension. Often, this is one game for the first offense, with harsher penalties depending on subsequent ejections and the severity of the offense. Sometimes in professional sports, a fine may be sanctioned against a player or coach.

Most NFHS contests require ejected players to remain in the team area, so they may be supervised by a responsible team adult, usually the head or assistant coach (as requiring a minor to leave an area unsupervised can lead to legal liabilities). If the player continues to be unruly, creative solutions may be implemented such as requiring an assistant coach to leave the area with the player, handing the player over to the school administrator on duty, or requiring the player's parents to take the player home.

See also

• Penalty card
• Walk of shame