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Unusual request

T

ThatWasShocking

New Member
Hello, had my second game today, feels like it was much better than the previous one. 9x9 this time, u12, reds vs blues.

So blues seem to be struggling in the league and today only had 8 players available. At the beginning both managers approached me and said they'd play 8 a side.

It caught me of guard but I decided that it's still going to be 9 a side a game, as per league rules but red team manager can keep one player on the bench if he wants to and only play 8. But it's all down to red manager what he wants to do. Minimum player number on the pitch is 6 in this format so I couldn't see why something like this would be against the rules. But then again I'm new

Now I'm not sure about that thing I've said about red manager being able to keep one player back and play 8b if he wants. Already there I thought it was opening a few cans of worms, like if I sin bin red player can then manager bring his extra in then?

Just curious what more experienced refs would say at such request?

Luckily home team manager decided to play with 9 and see how it goes so I didn't need to worry about that in the end. Blue team put up a fight and so the question of taking one player off never returned
 
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If teams choose to play with a player less it is down to them, not a battle for you to fight. Likewise if a player is sent off or sin binned there is nothing you can or should do if they choose to bring on an extra player.
 
It's a can of worms, possibly.
Competition rules usually state that a team not fielding a full side is fined per minute of game, per number of players missing...
Not sure if that's the same at youth /mini soccer but if it's in the rules you end up duty bound to report it.
This is one of those where it's handy to have a league sec number handy and pop them a call to confirm they're happy with arrangement
 
JamesL said:
It's a can of worms, possibly.
Competition rules usually state that a team not fielding a full side is fined per minute of game, per number of players missing...
Not sure if that's the same at youth /mini soccer but if it's in the rules you end up duty bound to report it.
This is one of those where it's handy to have a league sec number handy and pop them a call to confirm they're happy with arrangement
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Pretty sure it was removed from SCORY a few years ago.

There is a rule regarding playing a match with less than the minimum required number of players (which is 6 for 9v9).
 
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The team manager can decide to keep one player off to balance numbers if he wishes, but the game is still a 9v9 fixture. In my local youth league clubs are fined £5 for every player short of the prescribed number (yes, five pounds!)
 
Just treat exactly the same as you normally would a 9v9.. seeing as coaches had already agreed it would be very unsporting of the coach to then go back on this and start putting extra player on if one of your scenarios arose.
 
Yeah I gave red manager a choice and in end he decided to play with 9. Kinda fixed the problem for me. I was ok with any decision but left the decision with home team coach, I'm a little too new to play around with rules and like that it's down to him and he can't complain later. I'm not sure it was set in stone between the two either. Think more of an option they considered and wanted me to decide 🤷

Cause had I said,fine it's 8 a side now and then reds were down a goal and home team manager decided to go back on his decision, would I have been able to stop him and enforce 8x8 when league is 9x9?
 
ThatWasShocking said:
Yeah I gave red manager a choice and in end he decided to play with 9. Kinda fixed the problem for me. I was ok with any decision but left the decision with home team coach, I'm a little too new to play around with rules and like that it's down to him and he can't complain later. I'm not sure it was set in stone between the two either. Think more of an option they considered and wanted me to decide 🤷

Cause had I said,fine it's 8 a side now and then reds were down a goal and home team manager decided to go back on his decision, would I have been able to stop him and enforce 8x8 when league is 9x9?
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No, it just shows him up to be honest. I mean it’s u11/12 football and he’s acting like that. Embarrassing..
 
To be fair, don't want to bash that manager, he seemed a nice chap in general, but I guess in the end he wasn't fully happy to play player short. Not sure how far they were with another coach in their agreement or was it just something briefly mentioned.
Felt a little sad for blue team, as boys weren't even sure if they wanted to play with player less but in the end they put up a good fight.
I imagine situation like that may repeat itself in one of future fixtures so just wanted to see what experienced refs would do.
 
ThatWasShocking said:
To be fair, don't want to bash that manager, he seemed a nice chap in general, but I guess in the end he wasn't fully happy to play player short. Not sure how far they were with another coach in their agreement or was it just something briefly mentioned.
Felt a little sad for blue team, as boys weren't even sure if they wanted to play with player less but in the end they put up a good fight.
I imagine situation like that may repeat itself in one of future fixtures so just wanted to see what experienced refs would do.
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The problem for the coach would be who to drop. Even with rolling substitutes no player would enjoy being dropped just before kick off. And parents would have a (loud) opinion!
 
Two things. 1. If the coaches have agreed to 8v8 then let them get on with it. 2. I've never done a mini soccer game but aren't all games at that age friendlies? Let them crack on with it and if a manager puts a 9th player on at any point let them crack on with that too.
 
No, they have a league divided in 4 divisions, with promotions and relegations.
And guess this is what I did. Red had a choice to play with 8 but he chose not to. Blues had no choice really
 
Ben448844 said:
Two things. 1. If the coaches have agreed to 8v8 then let them get on with it. 2. I've never done a mini soccer game but aren't all games at that age friendlies? Let them crack on with it and if a manager puts a 9th player on at any point let them crack on with that too.
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Under 12's is the first age group where competitive matches are allowed.
Below that everything is developmental.
 
Ben448844 said:
Cheers. I've learnt something today. So u13s is the first age group where its 11v11 these days?
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Not always.
For example: In the (women & girls) league in which my daughter plays the U13s play 9 v 9. Once they reach U14 they play 11 v 11.
I don't know how common this is, (her league may well be an outlier), but it is always worth checking competition rules for this sort of information just in case.
 
Ref_Dad said:
Not always.
For example: In the (women & girls) league in which my daughter plays the U13s play 9 v 9. Once they reach U14 they play 11 v 11.
I don't know how common this is, (her league may well be an outlier), but it is always worth checking competition rules for this sort of information just in case.
Click to expand...
That's the weird thing because that varies across the country. Some girls leagues will have their U13's play 9 v 9, and some have theirs play 11 v 11 I know of two local girls leagues to me, one of which play 9 a side and the other play 11 a side.
 
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