Question Number: 15116

League Specific 4/3/2007

RE: competative Adult

Cory Elgin of Menifee, California U.S.A. asks...

how much different are the rules for nisoa as opposed to fifa?

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Cory,

This is a trickier question to answer than you might think.

The structure of both games is practically identical, that?s why they're both called soccer in the USA. It even appears that the NCAA rules are modeled after a format similar to the FIFA laws of the game. Though, the NCAA has certainly taken its fair share of liberties in altering certain aspects of the game (i.e. the referee is not the time keeper, time ends when the horn blows, the NCAA has a convoluted substitution process and procedure, the referee may declare a team has forfeited for certain breaches, just to name a few).

The structure, language, organization, and "feel" of the NCAA rules vs. the FIFA laws are vastly different. From a practical standpoint, if you are studying for the NISOA written test you will need to devote vast amounts of time to studying

FIFA's laws are simple to understand, simple to read, and don't deal with a significant amount of administrative information. The NCAA rule book appears to have been written by the US Congress or a body equally as long winded. The NCAA rules cover any eventuality and record many administrative procedures.

One interesting aspect of the NCAA rules is that often a rule may be "altered by mutual consent". That means either an athletic conference may change a rule to its benefit or even two coaches who agree before a match may change a rule or stipulation. On the other hand, the FIFA laws of the game are the same everywhere on Earth. They are not allowed to be changed, except for a few exceptions for gender/age discrepancies.

Of course I would just like to point out; the NCAA rules are used by one league structure, in one country on the Earth. The FIFA laws are used by every country on Earth.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

There are lots of minor differences. Mostly, it is easy to see that the NCAA rulehave many similarities to that of the USSF, but there are some differences. Some of the major differences that I can note are that in the NCAA a horn blows to end the game (not the referee and both follow different procedures for substitutes.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Some really great things are made up for NISOA rules.

1. A team can substitute 11 players at a time.

2. When a substitute checks in to the scorer/timer table he must enter the game.

3. The referee can signal time be stopped when needed but at the end of a period of play the timer signals the end of the period with a horn. If the ball is in flight towards goals when the horn sounds there is no goal.

4. A substitute can enter one time in the first half and twice in the second half.

5. Your referee uniform can not be the same as US Soccer's, it must be NISOA's. AND when you join [at least one of the referee associations] you are forced to buy everything down to the politically correct whistle and cards.

And on and on... warning strong opinion follows. If you are not prepared to read it, don't

NISOA is just another national organisation for US referees to be a member of. Why this is, I have no clue. One would think that ONE of the national organisations would have the courage to say WE are the guys who referee Association Football [Soccer] in this country and unless you other organisations follow the Laws of the Game, as promulgated by the IFAB, you're on your own. If our referees work in your league they forfeit their license to referee here and the rest of the world. There are good ole boy networks for USSF, NISOA and NFHS. That is two too many...

Regards,