Question Number: 19109

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/16/2008

RE: Travel Under 12

George Braun of New York, New York USA asks...

Hi. I am playing a match tomorrow with no substitutes (9 players for 9v9). Can I just "pull" a girl off the field to rest, or must I still call out "sub" to the Ref before taking her off field and playing down one player?

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

My suggestion is tell your players to ask the referee's permission to leave the field when tired or after you have told them its time. Calling out "sub" just ain't something we recommend because no place in the Laws is that mentioned as an approved thingy. To substitute a player there is a written procedure in Law 3 to follow. Few referees in America and even fewer coaches really know this procedure and not following it exactly usually causes headaches for referees and players alike.

Players can leave the field, with the referee's permission, at any time during the match. Also a returning player need not wait for a stoppage in play to return to the fray so long as she is on a touchline and gets permission from the referee to re-enter. Again you should be wary of a referee who is inexperienced because he won't know this fact.

Regards,

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Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

My colleague is as usual spot on. The referee could if he chose to give your players a blanket permission to leave and enter if they are in need of a rest and water etc.. In a similar circumstance 11 versus 11 u-15 I simply asked the coach that they enter at the midline by their technical area as that is where I would look for them as in regular substitutions. It worked fine. A winded youth would recieve my permission to leave anywhere he happened to be on the field although most waited until a stoppage anyways and I would be scanning along the midline to see if he wanted to return. As I recall, the other team had 4 subs and used them well to run this minimum number team team into the ground but they had fun and all 11 did step out to get a rest and water as it was a hot day!
Cheers

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