Question Number: 21227

League Specific 4/28/2009

RE: Adult

Chris Kohlwes of Darmstadt, Germany asks...

When can a game be postponed and rescheduled due to a team not being able to field enough players?

Can a team request a postponement of a match due to it's inability to field a team due to injury?

Can a club request a postponement due to injury of a particular player position?

Example - A club has 4 teams (professional, U21, U19, U17). Due to injury, there is only one healthy goaltender for the top 3 level teams and all other goaltenders at the club do not have professional cards. The schedule has the professional club playing on a Saturday and the U19 on a Sunday in different cities.

Can the club request a postponement of it's lower level professional games because of this or must the game be played as scheduled with the players available?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

That is a league or association decision, the referee would have zero to do with those decisions! Personally I doubt that the excuse of your best keeper being injured is going to fly. If you were all on a team bus and it rolled putting your players in the hospital perhaps some compassion is shown! Most rosters feature 21 players so not sure why you think a postponement is even feasible?
Cheers