Question Number: 26297

League Specific 5/6/2012

RE: Under 8

Lisa of Norton, Ohio USA asks...

Can a player be on a D team and a DD team at the same time. I have a child that plays for the D (5-6 year olds) team and one that plays for DD (7-8 year olds). The opposing team had a player that played for both teams. Is this legal?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Lisa
This can be a competition rule set by the competition organisers and it is not a referee decision. It is a matter for clubs to assign players based on the age groups and competition rules.
As a general rule once a player is signed for a team the player can play for any team in that club at her group or above but not below unless as I said there is a competition rule preventing this.
Also organisers like players to play at their own age group rather than stepping up to older age groups. Sometimes if there is a shortage of players, younger player can step up in age groups. What is not possible is a step down so a DD player could not play for the D team at any time.
So if there is no competition rule preventing it a 6 year old could play for the D team and also the DD team. A 7 or 8 year old could not play for both just the DD team.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

It is a league issue. It is often requested, and rarely granted. IMO, in most circumstances it is not a good thing for the players to mix 5 and 8 year olds. There may be additional circumstances known only to the league for the players you saw on the other team.