Question Number: 24872

Law 1- The Field 5/3/2011

RE: travel Under 15

Pat of Binghamton, NY USA asks...

The association that my daughter plays soccer in recently had a game in which the field location was changed. The soccer association published its approved Variations from the Laws of the Game, none of which provide notive to U14 and above field dimensions.

At our arival to the field and much to my surprise, we were assigned to a field that measured 90 yds by 60 yds. It was very difficult to watch the teams play (11 v 11) for the field was too small and the players were just too congested.

When I addressed this issue, the home Club representative indicated that he knew that it did not meet the FIFA Law 3 requirements, but that he has the authority as granted elsewhere to waive these requirements. If I had known in advance that the field size was this size, I would have requested to reschedule to an appropriate sized field.

Here are my questions:

1. Does a league official have the authority to make such change eventhough it is not an approved and published variation? Can this be applied on a case-by-case basis?

2. Whether it happened then or at some future game, can a coach play the game under protest (announcing before the game) stating the the field size does not meet the size requirments of Law 3?

3. Lastly, in the spirit of the game, shouldn't the change been communicated when the location was changed?

Thank you!

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi Pat. You mean Law 1 The Field Of Play, not Law 3 The Number Of Players.

Law 1 only requires that the touchline must be longer than the goal line. In the latest LOTG Law 1 gives the following dimensions:

Touch line minimum 100 yards
maximum 130 yards

Goal Line minimum 50 yards
maximum 100 yards

We also find in the LOTG under allowable modifications for footballers under the age of 16:

Any or all of the following modifications are permissible:
? size of the field of play

I found the Rochester Youth and Irondequit Youth Soccer associations By Laws and they both are identical to Georgia's. The minimum field size for U14 is 50 x 100 yards. But, Georgia plainly states the field size is not grounds for a protest. Rochester says the referee?s judgment, with regard to the physical condition of the field and its acceptance of play is not protestable. USYSA also goes by LOTG minimum size of 50 x 100 yards.

So, the field you played on was just 10 yards shy of the minimum length and was 10 yards greater than the minimum width. The area of your field was identical to the minimum required by USYSA and LOTG Law 1. As to your questions:

1. Probably has this authority.
2. I doubt any protest due to field size would hold up. Georgia specifically forbids this and New York may also. I would venture the people handling protests would find such a protest frivolous at best. Protests usually are for misapplications of the Laws that unfairly affect one team. How was your team affected more than the other team? You both had to play on the same size field and the field was deemed playable by the referee.
3. Why? I assume you had to travel as you refer to the "Home Club representative." You really going to try to postpone a game because a field is 10 yards too short? The people in charge of scheduling games and assigning referees are not going to take kindly to that!

I've had to coach and referee games where the fields were obviously short. We used to play full sided soccer at U12 and I've seen the opposite where a new U12 team had to move up to a 90 x 120 yard field and these kids were about dead halfway into the game trying to cover so much ground.

While a short field is not ideal, I would ask myself the following questions:
1. Is the field safe?
2. Is the field marked properly?
3, Would the kids NOT want to play just because the field is small?
4. Would the opposing coach want to reschedule just because the field was small?
5. Would the parents want to reschedule?
6. Why was the game moved? The small field was probably the only one available and the co-ordinators did the best they could with what choices they had.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Pat
The Laws may be modified in their application for matches for players of under 16 years of age, for women footballers, for veteran footballers (over 35 years of age) and for players with disabilities which includes modification to the size of the field of play.
Usually field size is covered in the underage competition rules or that certain fields are approved having been inspected and passed as suitable by the competition organisers.
Personally I believe that teams should adjust to the conditions they find on the day including pitch size, slopes, wind, ground conditions etc. It is the same for both teams and tactics should be employed that use the conditions to one's advantage.
I have seen senior teams come to a lower division ground in cup competitions and fail to deal with the size, condition of the field of play. It requires a different approach, skills etc and players should develop these particularly at underage. I might add that the pitch size at5400 sq yards is a large area.The problem was not the size but the players' inability to use the available space properly.