Question Number: 16393

Law 3 - Number of Players 8/22/2007

RE: Rec Under 15

John Mccullough of Shelton, WA USA asks...

Is there a certain amount of times you can sub in a game before the ref say you are delaying the game

if I wanted to sub all the forwards, midfield, or defenders every 5 minutes during a stoppage could my team be called for delaying the game

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

In the World Cup, 3 subs.

In youth play, unlimited subs (usually).

If you are subbing players every 5 minutes, I'd wonder about the conditioning of your players. However that doesn't preclude you from wanting to do all the substitutions.

I will, however, notice that you are wasting a lot of time, and I will notify you that I am just adding time on to compensate. If your team is ahead, I will be very generous in how much time I add. There will be no benefit to your team due to making all these substitutions. Hopefully you will realize that your efforts will be for naught, and you will cease and desist.

If during substitution your players dwaddle coming off, they will be vigorously encouraged to hurry it along. First by verbal commands, and then by showing little yellow plastic rectangles.

(When I say "you" in all of the above, of course I mean the other coach and team. You would not resort to such nefarious means just to try to win a soccer game.)

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Coach, how on earth will your players learn to get into the flow of the game, to feel the rhythm, and to read their teammates if they play only in 5 minute increments? Either you have too many players (I do know some rec leagues mandate 1/2 game playing time for everyone) or your strategy needs examining. Even here in Texas where the weather can be blistering hot, the good coaches would never sub their players in and out like that - it is not soccer, it's a revolving door, for heaven's sake! I try to be very circumspect about substitutions, allowing them only when the substitutes are up and ready to come in at the appropriate stoppage, as I will not delay the game and the restart while a coach fumbles around trying to decide who is going in this time. I would be especially careful about a request for substitutions if a coach were trying to do this every 5 minutes. I would also add back the time such a strategy tries to steal from the other team, and would let the coaches and players know I am doing this. So if the halves are 40 minutes, and the substitution revolving door took up an extra five minutes of playing time, we would play for 45 minutes by my watch. This revolving door is just plain unsporting behavior - not in the sense of a caution but in the sense of violating the spirit of the game. But now knowing that, the coach could fix it.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

I would venture to say that if you ask to substitute every 5 minutes or so that most referees will not view your action as time wasting. Some referees might see it that way though. It sounds to me like you are using a strategy of substituting "lines" or "shifts" sort of like hockey keeping certain players together all the time and moving 2, 3, or 4 players as groups. You are within your rights to do this (in some American youth soccer leagues.) However, if you start abusing your right to substitute freely, by doing it more frequently while you have a lead the referee's hear may start to get worse and he may not hear your request to substitute every time you ask for it.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

John the manager of a team must consider many things from the touchline while his team is trying to defend a slim lead, which is what I think you are alluding to. Substituting to use a little time is all well and good and is expected in the latter moments of a match. But once the allowed number of substitutes are used there is no more a manager can do. The referee is going to add time to the match to ensure the teams have their full amount of playing time.

When this is done during a match where there are an unlimited number of substitutes available it allows the referee to wonder if the manager actually is doing something within the Law. The referee must allow a substitute to enter when the procedures listed in Law 3 have been met, that's a given. The referee is NOT OBLIGATED to allow a manager to substitute if the procedure listed in Law 3 is not followed.

A manager that yells "Hey Ref, SUB" just before a throw-in or a goal kick is not following the correct procedure and he should not feel hard done by a referee who demands the Law be followed to the letter. My colleagues have discussed the what they feel about the flow of the game and making an inordinate amount of changes in the second period of play.

The technique I use to defeat this manager is add time. The amount of time I add is at my discretion. If by some stretch of the imagination the opponent of a coach using this method of time wasting finds himself a goal up time just ran out! The match ends there and then. I consider that just as fair as me having to constantly substitute players and assist in a manager's efforts at time wasting, assuming he follows Law 3 exactly. If the manager does not follow Law 3 exactly he will not be substituting as many players and I will not be a party to his wasting time.

Regards,