RULES: Please take a minute to read the rules for your division. All division rules fit on a single page, so we expect you to know the rules and NOT argue with the referee about the rules. If you would like to discuss rule changes, please work with your division coordinator, who in turn with work with Pete, myself and Greg. Game day is NOT the times to tell the ref you don’t like the rules.
Other than 2nd grade, we will not be changing the substituion rules about changing on the fly. We had quite a few coaches think this was allowable. The reality is that it was NEVER allowable, but probably wasn’t called or monitored in the past. It will be going forward. You can NEVER change players "on the fly" especially starting with 3rd grade and older. The current 2nd grade rules do not allow for substitutions on the fly, but we can entertain that for that age group or younger. At a minimum the girl coming off has to get all the way to the sideline before the replacement girl can enter the field. This is called the "high-five within 5 feet" rule in travel soccer. This is a safety concern (I saw 3 or 4 girls for both teams running onto the field to tell their counterpart they need to run off) and should never happen when the ball is in play, as it causes confusion for the girls on the field trying to play the ball, as well as having too many girls on the field running on and off. Substitutions should be done when play is stopped, per the rules.
