Question Number: 17085

League Specific 10/4/2007

RE: Recreation Under 10

Lynda J Reilly Coach Reilly of Cedar Knolls, New Jersey Morris asks...

I head up a division in our town which is called the 5th
division. Which is made up of 8year olds,9 year olds,10 year olds and 11 year olds.
The Boys can only play until they are 11 years old the girls
can play until they are 12 years old. We use to have them mixed boys and girls with 18 on a team. So this fall I have separated the boys from the girls with 10 on a team and made small sided games of 8 v 8, or 7v7, or 6v6.
At this time I have 3 coaches on 1 team who feel that we should not have offside rule which is keeping a defender in back of the offender. They feel we should just let the players, run anywhere on the field, stand in the goalie
box, and except a pass and score on the goalie. I had a goalie kicked in the eye one year because no offside rule was implamented to the game. She almost lost her eye, she does have vision problems with this eye as of this date.
My main question is when does the FIFA LAW REQUIRE AT WHAT AGE GROUP SHOULD WE START THE OFFSIDES RULE?
AND CAN YOU POSSIBLY DIRECT ME TO SOME BACK-UP FOR A BOARD MEETING WITH THE CLUB.
SO I CAN DEFEND THE FIFA LAW RULES.
Thank you for takling the time to read this,
Sincerely Yours,
Lynda Reilly (Coach Reilly)

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

At the very beginning of the Laws of the Game booklet, FIFA says some modifications may be made for youth under 16, women, veterans over 35, and disabled:

"Any or all of the following modifications are permissible:
* size of the field of play
* size, weight and material of the ball
* width between the goalposts and height of the crossbar from the
ground
* duration of the periods of play
* substitutions"

Do you see offside in that list? Me neither.

The sooner the players learn the real Laws, as opposed to league modifications, the better players they will be. 8 year olds have figured out how to do an offside trap play, all by themselves without coaching. Don't underestimate the abilities of kids to learn.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

If you are affiliated with USYSA then you must conform to the Laws of the Game regardless the desires of the coaches. Last year the information Ref Voshol cites was on page 3.

Regards,