Question Number: 16785

League Specific 9/19/2007

RE: High School

Franco of Bloomington, USA asks...

Does any of the staff ever work with the high school NFHS soccer rule/law committee to try and bring high school rules more in line with the FIFA Laws? Or in you opinion are the NFHS differences superior to the FIFA laws?

I do not know the NFHS book that well and I am not licensed, but I am the time keeper from time to time. I am always confused by the timekeeper counting down the last 10, referee stopping the clock on injuries, goal scored, and PKs and any other time the ref feels its important. I also don't understand the reasons or intentions for the differences in issueing cards (yellow, reds, soft reds, blah blah blah) and teams sometimes not playing down, when you are allowed to substitute, uniform color restrictions, restarts that don't use a dropped ball, the hand signals by the referee, showing coaches cards and etc.

They (NFHS) also do not provide easy access to the rule book as FIFA does, it has to be bought. So that tells me they want to promote the org and not the sport. I like the FIFA way better...comments?
Franco

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

You, sir, are very observant! We are always available for consultation to any body that could use our expertise. Regarding which set of procedures/Laws/rules are superior, I would only offer that the FIFA Laws of the Game are used in over 200 countries worldwide every day. The NFHS rules are used in the United States alone during the season. To their credit, the NFHS rules have improved mightily over the last 10 years, tracking ever closer to their superior counterpart in the FIFA Laws of the Game. However, there are too many folks in the chain of rule making with NFHS who have NEVER played the game and don't understand why we have red cards, why the referee keeps time on the field (thus no need to stop and restart the clock so many times) or the other mechanics of the beautiful game. The high school folks, for instance, think soccer is more violent than football (American), basketball or baseball because of the number of red cards that are issued. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the game. We could go on forever but I think you see my point. The FIFA Laws of the Game are tried and tested over a hundred years or more, and have stood the test of time, with occasional tinkerings to keep up with the evolution of the game.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

No one from the NFHS rules comittee that I know of has come to us for guidance. Perhaps they ought to.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

[cattyness on]
I'm not sure the NFHS rules committee goes to anyone for guidance and advice.
[cattyness off]

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Well intentioned people will arrive at different conclusions for the same reasons. Human behavior is not all what it could be at times. Those that tinker with soccer laws at the youth level are expanding on why FIFA allows some laws to be altered. I guess there are the control or power mad cronies in there at times but truthfully misguided as we might think those who set the bar are many act believing in the best interest of the kids and fair play. As you can see we rarely agree with them but whether there are profound social and psychological consideration as to how kids learn unbeknownst to us we ahem just shake our heads at how they are caught up in making it their own game rather than the world game! I often think of all the soccer policy groups in North America need a unifying policy belt to be world champions instead of individual policy groups scattered about the land!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

There are three national organizations in America. I have been told this is because the USSF is a federation and to shut up. Here I thought a national organization, as far as Football was concerned was the group that is represented at the Confederation. USSF is that group. HOWEVER "they" don't think they are the final word in this country because they allow other "national organizations" do dictate rules different from the Laws posed by the International FA Board and adopted by FIFA.

Until USSF assumes control to The Game in this country we will be a second rate group having no real impact on The Game. There I said what I feel about the subject and did it without uttering a word.

Shut up, Aye, Aye Sir...

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

You are certainly not the only one that wishes they could better align NFHS with FIFA. NFHS committees are usually pretty stubborn when it comes to this.