The SRBE Ltd Plant & Tool Hire
(MILTON KEYNES
& BORDER COUNTIES)
YOUTH FOOTBALL LEAGUE
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
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FAQ No. |
Question |
Answer |
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Fixtures |
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1 |
When
fixtures are first published, are they set in stone? |
No. Due
to all sorts of reasons e.g. County Cup matches, League Cup matches, free
weekend requests, bad weather etc, fixtures can and do change. All changes
are made by the Fixtures Secretary. |
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2 |
From the
published fixtures I see that I have a weekend with no match – can I assume
this weekend will remain free so that I can plan to do other things? |
No.
Fixtures can change but if you want to keep a weekend with no match scheduled
free to do other things, then contact the Fixtures Secretary and request that
weekend to be kept free. However it is not certain that the request will be
granted as a number of factors will affect the decision (fixture pile up,
weather, commitments of other teams etc) |
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3 |
How much
notice do I need to give to the Fixtures Secretary to guarantee a free
weekend? |
Rule 10C
states that 4 weeks notice is required to request a free weekend. Any request
will be considered with reference to the commitments of all teams and the
scheduling of all fixtures on a Sunday before the end of April. |
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4 |
I have
just been informed by some of my players that they are away and unavailable
on a weekend where I have a fixture. Can I request a free weekend with less
than 4 weeks notice? |
The free weekend request will only be granted
if players are unavailable through representative team games or school
activities. The League will request confirmation of the school
activity. |
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5 |
If I have
less than 11 players available, can I call a match off? |
FA rules
allow a match to commence with a minimum of 7 players on the pitch. Clearly,
if you have less than 7 players available then the match cannot take place,
although this will constitute a game being unfulfilled and it will be
referred to the Disciplinary Committee, as it would if you were to call the
game off with 7 or more players. |
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6 |
Under
what circumstances can I call off a scheduled fixture? |
As a
manager, you can call off any game. However, unless it is for an acceptable
reason, the unfulfilled fixture will be referred to the Disciplinary
Committee who can decide to award the game to your opponents and/or issue a
fine. Legitimate reasons for a fixture to be called off are:
Where
players are unavailable due to a school activity, the League will require a
letter from the School confirming the names of the players taking part in the
school activity. This list of players will be compared against your Team
Registration Sheet and if the number of players on the school activity brings
your total of remaining registered players below 11, then the game will be
rescheduled. If you are left with 11 or more registered players available,
the fixture will be expected to be fulfilled. |
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7 |
Can I
agree with my opponent’s team manager to reschedule a published fixture? |
Rule 10C
permits Clubs to bring forward a fixture with the consent of the Fixtures
Secretary. Clubs cannot agree between themselves to move a fixture to a later
date – if there is a problem with a fixture on a particular date, give the
Fixtures Secretary as much notice as possible to see if anything can be done
to help within the Rules (see FAQ3 and FAQ4). |
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8 |
After a
match is played, who do I give the result to and by when? |
Home
teams must telephone or preferably email the result to the Fixtures Secretary
on match day by 2pm for an AM game and 6pm for a PM game. However if one
point-of-contact from the Club is to submit all results for your Club then,
with the prior agreement of the Fixtures Secretary, these results can all be
submitted by 7pm. Midweek results are due by 9pm on the day the game is
played. Home and Away teams must then also complete the Match Result Sheet
and send it (by post or attached to an email) to the Fair Play Secretary
within 4 days of the match. If there
are any reports required – for fair play or referee marks – then these should
accompany the result sheet. Late
results to the Fixtures Secretary will incur a £5 fine for the first offence
and this will increase by £1 per late result within your Club (regardless of
team or age group) for each subsequent offence. eg If you
U12’s are late week 1 then they will incur a £5 fine. If your U14’s are then
late week 5 they will incur a £6 fine. If you your U16’s are late week 13
they incur a £7 fine Incomplete
or late result sheets to the Fair Play Secretary will also incur a £5 fine.
An additional £5 fine will be charged each week until the fully completed
result sheet arrives. |
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9 |
Do I have
to fill in all of the information on the Result Sheet, even where information
is duplicated? |
Yes. The
Result Sheet is actually three documents in one, namely a Team sheet, a Fair
Play sheet and a Referees Marks sheet. When the Result Sheet is received, the
three sections are separated and sent to different Officers of the League.
The Team sheet section goes to the Registrations Secretary so that a random
check can be made on players listed and also to check that suspended players
did not play etc; the Fair Play sheet section goes to the Fair Play Secretary
to administer the Fair Play Scheme; and the Referees Marks sheet goes to the
Referees Secretary to monitor the marks given to the match officials (the
referee and assistant referees, whether League or Club appointed). Failure
to fill in the Result Sheet completely will result in a fine so please take
the time to complete it correctly. |
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10 |
If my
match is called off by the referee or groundsman, who do I need to tell? |
You must
advise your opponents and the Fixtures Secretary asap. If it was the
groundsman who called the game off, and you had a Referee allocated to your
game, then you also need to advise the Referee and the Referees Secretary.
You do not need to submit a Match Result Sheet. |
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11 |
If my
team have an away fixture and I have not received confirmation of the Sunday
match by the preceding Tuesday evening from the home team, what should I do? |
Rule 10D
requires the home team to confirm the fixture at least 5 days prior to playing
the match i.e. by the Tuesday evening preceding a Sunday match. If this does
not happen, you must advise the Fixtures Secretary that confirmation by the
due deadline did not take place. Under Rule 10D you are then required (as the
away team) to seek confirmation of the match from the home team. If you
cannot get hold of the home team manager, it is recommended that you contact
the home team Club’s Secretary. It is advisable to keep the Fixtures
Secretary informed if you continue to have problems in contacting the home
Club. |
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PLAYER Registrations |
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12 |
Do I have
to register players by post – can’t I just call round to the Registrations
Secretary house and have the players registered whilst I wait? |
Rule
8Diii clearly states that the registration of additional players after the
final Registration Evening (scheduled in August) will only be conducted by
post. You can hand deliver your documents by placing them in an envelope and
placing the envelope through the letterbox of the Registrations Secretary
house. All player registrations are processed strictly in the order they are
received – please do not harass the Registrations Secretary to complete your
registrations quickly as this will be reported to the Disciplinary Committee.
See FAQ13. |
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13 |
How long
will it take to get a player registered? |
Every
effort is taken to register players asap. The commitment to you is to return
all documents and player registration cards within two weeks of receipt (see
Rule 8Diii). Please allow for these two weeks when planning your player
registrations. |
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Referees |
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14 |
Can I
expect to have a League appointed referee at each of my matches? |
No.
Unfortunately there are simply not enough referees available. For afternoon
matches, priority is given to U18 matches, followed by U16 Div 1 and U15 Div
1. For morning matches, it is U14 matches that have priority, followed by
U13, U12 and finally U11. The exception to the above is for League Cup
matches and ad-hoc matches where it is considered appropriate to appoint a
match official. |
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15 |
If I do
not have a referee allocated to my fixture, is it the responsibility of the
Referees Secretary to find me a referee if I ask for one? |
No. The
Referees Secretary acts purely as the agent of the League registered Referees
and is responsible for allocating them to fixtures. Should a registered
Referee become available when previously they had said they were not
available for a particular weekend, the Referees Secretary will allocate that
Referee to a fixture. The Referees Secretary may decide to allocate that
Referee to your fixture if you have asked for one, but there is no guarantee
of being allocated a Referee. |
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16 |
Who pays
for the match official(s)? |
The home
team for League and League Cup matches. The exceptions are as follows: ·
In
League matches where three officials have been allocated by the Referees
Secretary, the home team pays for the Referee and the home and away teams
share equally the costs of the two Assistant Referees (as per Rule 13E) ·
in
League Cup Semi Finals, the costs of all three match officials are shared
equally between the home and away teams (as per Cup Rule 6) In the League Cup Finals, there are no costs to teams. |
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17 |
I am a
League registered Referee and I have not received from the home team
confirmation by Tuesday evening of their Sunday fixture – what should I do? |
Firstly,
you should report this to the Referees Secretary as the home team are
infringing a League Rule. You should continue to assume that you will be
officiating the match unless advised otherwise by the Referees Secretary who
may reallocate you to another match. You should turn up at the match even if
no confirmation has been received and should there be no match, you must
report this to the Referees Secretary who will arrange for you to receive
match fees plus travelling expenses from the League (in accordance with Rule
13F) and then this will be claimed back by the League from the home Club in
addition to receiving a fine. |
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Fines |
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18 |
If I
dispute a fine imposed by the League, can I appeal against it? |
The League
has changed it’s method of issuing fines for Season 2005/06. Clubs will now
receive pre-notification of a fine by the use of a Charge Sheet. The Club
will be notified on the Charge Sheet of the Rule that has been infringed and
the fine that will be issued. The Club can then either pay the fine by
admitting the infringement or they can ask the League to consider mitigating
circumstances prior to a final decision being made. If the Disciplinary
Committee upholds the fine, the Club will be advised. Should the Club then
wish to Appeal against that fine, they must do so by appealing to the Berks
& Bucks County FA (see Rule 16 for details of the process). |
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General |
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19 |
Remembrance
Sunday – do we observe a minutes silence prior to the start of a match? |
It is not
mandatory. However, the League would encourage teams to respect Remembrance
Sunday in the traditional manner within football by holding a minute silence
prior to kick-off. We suggest that the manager of each team, together with
the match Referee, discuss this and agree between themselves whether a minute
silence will be held. |
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20 |
Why do
the League not publish the Goals For and Against in the League Tables? |
Goal
difference is not used to determine a team’s position within a divisional
table. Furthermore, the ethos of the League is about fair play and as such we
do not believe it serves youth football if teams are encouraged to score as
many goals as possible. The humiliation of another team is not what youth
football should be about. Hence we do not publish Goals For and Against. |
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21 |
If I want
to enter my team into a tournament, do I have to tell you? |
Yes, if
it is on a date within the Season (September – May inclusive). You must seek
from the General Secretary permission of the League in order to enter the
tournament and you must also issue to the Fixtures Secretary a request for a
free weekend for the date in question. There is
no guarantee that either of these will be granted as League commitments
always come first. |