These notes explain some of the important points that club secretaries have to consider and also some of the changes this season. Please read through them and pass them on, to any other relevent person within the club. It is also important to read through the league, ko cup & county rules, to avoid problems later. Please note that all rule changes are agreed by the clubs at the AGM for the new season and many of the changes are not league suggestions. If you have any queries just ask. Hadley & Ottaway Sponsor Hadley & Ottaway are our new league sponsor. We are grateful for their support and hope that this will be a long lasting partnership. Macron Macron are our matchball sponsor & official kit partner and we are grateful for their support. This agreement provides a quality product at a reasonable price for all our clubs. If your club needs any extra matchballs or other sports kit, just contact them direct and they will be pleased to help. They are also providing a Sporting club award each month. Matchballs For all matches clubs must only use matchballs approved by the league, ie. Macron Earthquake XF. Each team were given 2 free at our AGM. Other matchballs cannot be used for our matches. League Handbooks League Handbook will be available online, on league website, although clubs can purchase paper copies, if they order them in time. This will contain all the usual contact details, rules etc, that you need for the season. Changes to contacts will be issued during the season, so if your details change or are incorrect, please inform me asap. League Website also has various details, including forms, along with fixtures, results, news items and map locations of all our clubs. Contacts (further details are in league handbook) Chris McCullough (Hon Secretary) Jack Smith (Hon Treasurer) Steve Finch (Ground Standards) 1 General queries & Fixtures. Accounts, Player registration, transfers, results, SMS Ground Standard queries & problems John Tythcott (East Anglian Referees Pool) Referee Appointments (for Premier Division matches) Daryl Godbold (Norfolk FA) Matt Carpenter (Norfolk FA) Matt Lemmon (Norfolk FA) Stacey Annison (Norfolk FA) Rachel Cossey (Norfolk FA) David Robinson (Norfolk FA) Referee Appointments (other than Premier Division matches) Football Administration Discipline FA Charter Standard Player Registration (Not transfers) Referee Reports Correspondence Most League correspondence is sent via email, so it is important that all clubs have access to their email. Extra club contacts can be added to the email distribution lists, just email me with the details. If your email address changes, you must let me & County FA, know asap but also amend it on FA Fulltime & Wholegame, otherwise you will miss important details. Always reply to correspondence, both from the League & County FA, as delays can cause you charges and fines. If you have any queries or problems, at any time, please contact the relevent person. You can also discuss topics with any Management Committee member. Team of Month & Sporting Award The league have a Senior & Junior Team of the Month award throughout the season. With winners receiving a certificate and matchball. There is also a Sporting Award each month, with Macron Sports providing equipment or a voucher for the club. Player Registrations Player Registration forms go direct to Norfolk FA, they register players & they are then loaded onto Fulltime. You must make sure that each form is completed fully and is readable. Players can be registered up to 31st March in each season and must be 16 years old.
If you are registering overseas players or players returning home from abroad (this includes Scotland Wales & Ireland) YOU MUST OBTAIN INTERNATIONAL CLEARANCE FROM THE FA. (Not the League or County FA) There is a link to the form, on our website in League Downloads. On our FA Fulltime website, anyone can select a future dated fixture and see all the players who are registered at that time, for both teams. If players are not listed on Fulltime then contact Jack Smith but allow a couple of days after initial registration, just in case of delays. Also if any of your players details are wrong, eg. duplicates, name spelling or date of birth incorrect then contact Jack Smith. If players details are not present or are wrong on Fulltime, then they are not registered, so it is important to check. Forms can get lost so make sure that they are all processed when you send them in. It is best to email the forms, that way you have a record of the details. You can also download forms from league website. Remember the FA 7day Notice Rule, applies to all registrations & transfers, see below. If in doubt ask. Player registrations fees are payable to Norfolk FA, they will send an invoice direct. Clubs must register at least 11 players per team, 14 days prior to their first scheduled match. The minimum number of players for a match is 7. Match Day Registrations Players can be signed on just prior to a league or cup match, but form must be countersigned by an opposing team official. Make sure each team manager has some spare forms just in case. For match day registrations, you must send form to Norfolk FA promptly and also email a copy to Jack Smith to avoid problems. Transfers Current League Transfer forms are available from the league website, under League Downloads. You can transfer players anytime up to 31st March in a season, there is no initial deadline. Before you contact a player relating to a transfer, follow the FA 7day Rule as below. When the 7day notice has expired, you may contact the player, complete the form fully, ensuring that it is signed by the player, existing club Secretary and new club Secretary. If a Club Secretary is not available, they can email Jack Smith to confirm the transfer. Before a player can transfer, all club equipment must be returned and all outstanding FA discipline fines must be paid. Any other outstanding issues, cannot delay a transfer. Completed Transfer form should be sent, along with the 10 admin fee, to Jack Smith, who will notify both clubs & Norfolk FA, via email, when the transfer has been processed. To speed up the transfer process, the form can be emailed to Jack, without the current club secretary's signature but that secretary must send an email to confirm they agree to the transfer. The 10 transfer admin fee can be paid direct into the league account or sent to Jack. A player may transfer as many times as he likes, the limitation has been removed. FA 7day Rule Remember that before a player signs a registration or transfer form, the club must check if he is currently registered for another club, in any Saturday league. Under FA rules, you must give his current club 7 days notice of approach, before you can contact the player, otherwise you could be charged for an illegal approach. The registration or transfer process must be completed within 21 days, from the date of the notice. A club is only allowed one approach for a specific player per season. A club is only allowed one approach to a specific club every 28 days. This rule related to all clubs, not just clubs in our league and applies for both registrations & transfers. 2
Repeat Substitutions These are allowed for Junior matches but not Senior: a) League & ko cup Senior matches, repeat substitutions NOT allowed, just 3 subs from 3 named. b) Norfolk & Suffolk Senior Cup, repeat substitutions NOT allowed, just 3 subs from 5 named. c) League & ko cup Junior matches, repeat substitutions are allowed, with 3 named subs. d) Norfolk Junior Cup, repeat substitutes are allowed, with 3 named subs. e) Suffolk Cups (below Senior), repeat substitutes are allowed, with 5 named subs. Team Sheets Each team is provided with triple-ply team sheets for use on match day, one copy each for club, referee and opponents. Team sheets must be exchanged 30mins or 15mins before matches for Senior or Junior matches respectively. You must retain your copy of the teamsheet plus your opponents teamsheet, until the end of the playing season, in case of queries. Fulltime Team Sheet details After a match, each club must record the team sheet details on Fulltime, along with scorers and referee mark, within 3 days of the match. You can have several people set up to update Fulltime for each team. Please provide details to Jack Smith - Club, Team (first, reserves or both), Name, email address & Mobile No. Once set up, they will receive 2 emails, one to setup their login, with a Username & Password, the other to verify the email address. This will allow them access to Fulltime details for that team & receive club information. Separate Fulltime instructions will be send to all clubs and be available on League Website. Fulltime Match Day Registrations When updating teamsheet details, obviously any match day registrations, will not appear on Fulltime for a few days, so you must add their names to the Notes section for that match, so that all the players names are recorded. You can then go in later that week and add the missing players to the team details when they appear on Fulltime. Failure to do so will incur charges. Reporting Results The result of all Competition League, League Cup, National & County Cup Matches must be notified to the Competition Registrations & Records Officer after the termination of each match. This is so that the results & league table details may be forwarded to Radio Norfolk, Press & other Media organisations to satisfy their deadlines and also maintain our league website. It is very important and clubs failing to meet the deadlines, will be charged. a) For all Senior Matches Home clubs must phone the result line, with result and BOTH teams' scorers, within 2 hours of scheduled ko time, eg. 4pm for 2pm ko. Result line number is : Telephone: 0709 298 2004 (Special Message answer service, Not a text number) b) For all Junior Matches Home clubs must report result via FA Fulltime SMS text message service, within 3 hours of scheduled ko time, eg. 5pm for 2pm ko. So all Junior teams must have at least one person set up for SMS, maximum of two per team. A person can be set up for both teams. Once registered, you will receive a text message just prior to each match and you reply to the message with the result. Contact Jack Smith for further details. This is the only way that you can send results via text, it must be sent from the phone receiving the text and the message must be in the correct format, including team code, otherwise the system will ignore it and result will not be processed. Do NOT put random messages, eg. we lost 3-1. Please refer to the SMS Result notes, that are issued to all clubs and that are also available on league website. NB. Please make sure that when sending a result, either by phone message or SMS message, that you actually have a signal, otherwise it will not send. Clubs failing to report results will be charged. 3
Fixtures It is not possible to issue annual fixtures, as they depend so much on County Cups, up to end of the year. Fixtures are issued Monthly up to December, after that they are issued for rest of season, but are always subject to change. Sometimes it is not possible to issue all that month's fixtures, due to waiting on County Cup draws or results. In the summer, all clubs must complete a Pitch & Fixture Availability Form, showing any dates when your pitch is not available and also any dates when you prefer not to play. The league try to comply with requests but this is not always possible. The more notice you give, the more chance you have of being successful. If any of these details change, then please contact me asap. It is more difficult to change fixtures once they have been issued. There will be midweek matches at start & end of season and also some floodlit matches during the season, if possible. The league try to limit travelling distances for midweek matches but this is not always possible. There will be matches on Bank Holiday Monday at Easter and Mayday. There will be some "double header" matches (ie. first & reserves both at home on same day), with staggered ko times, at start & end of season, for various reasons. The season should finish by mid May at latest but this all depends on the weather. Please advise your players that all fixtures are subject to change, so you may get a revised fixture for a blank Saturday, unless you agree it with me beforehand. You cannot refuse fixtures. Sometimes a fixture may be reversed at short notice, if a ground is not available or unfit for play. Postponed & Cancelled Matches If you have to cancel a fixture due to lack of players or other reason, then the standard penalties apply: a) points awarded to opponents b) one extra point deducted from your total c) 50 fine If a match is postponed for any reason, contact the LEAGUE FIRST, as there may be another option. It is normally the home club's responsibility to contact all the relevent people, except when away team cancels the match. For Senior matches, postponed by pitch conditions, then a Certificate of Match Postponement form must also be submitted to the league within 24 hours of the postponement, form is available on website. The certificate must be completed by the match referee or where an early decision is required by a current active referee who is not connected to either club. For grounds where a Parish Council/Village Hall Committee make the decision the postponement form must be signed off by an authorised official with their title and must not be associated to either club. Abandoned Matches If a match is abandoned for any reason, the Management Committee decide what action to take and the amount of time played in the match is irrelevent (there is no such thing as a 70 minutes rule, eg. a match could end in first 10 minutes but points can still be awarded), it all depends on the circumstances. For all abandoned matches, the teamsheet details must still be updated on Fulltime, even though the match may or not be replayed. For Discipline Purposes: a) an abandoned match does not count towards serving a player's match day suspension, it does not matter if the match is replayed or not. A match must be completed in full for a suspension to be served. b) However, any booking, send off or other discipline offence, in an abandoned match, applies in the normal way. 4
Referees Premier Division Referees are allocated by John Tythcott, as we are part of the East Anglian Referees' Pool. If you have queries relating to Premier Referees refer to John. For all other matches, including Mummery Cup, referees are appointed by Daryl Godbold (Norfolk FA), if you have any queries refer them to Daryl. Referee appointments for all League & League KO Cup matches are shown on Fulltime, but not for County Cups. If a referee is not available, for any reason, the home club must provide a stand in referee, so make sure each team has a whistle. Please note Referee Marking Guide in League Handbook & website. For any mark 60 or less, you must email a report explaining the low mark, to David Robinson (Norfolk FA) and a copy to Jack Smith, on relevant form. Referee marking is very important, so please make sure that it is a balanced judgement of the official's performance over the whole match, not just an isolated incident. Referee contact details will be emailed to all clubs when provided by the Pool or Norfolk FA and changes will be issued during the season. Match Official fees: Match Fee Travel Expenses Premier Division Referee 30 34p per mile Premier Division Assistant 21 34p per mile Division 1 Referee 30 30p per mile Division 1 (if appointed) Assistant 21 30p per mile Divisions 2-6 Referee 25 30p per mile (max 20) Division 2-6 (if appointed) Assistant 15 30p per mile (max 20) Mummery Cup Referee 30 34p per mile Mummery Cup Assistant 21 34p per mile Cyril Ballyn & CS Morley Referee 25 30p per mile (max 20) Cyril Ballyn & CS Morley Assistant 15 30p per mile (max 20) NB. Match officials must be paid prior to each match unless agreed otherwise with the officials. For all ko cup matches, except the final, match officials' expenses shall now be shared equally between the two clubs. Equalisation For all league matches the fees are paid by the home club, however the travel expenses for Premier, Division1 & 2, will be equalised. So in the three separate division pools, clubs pay the same for that season and at end of season, some get a rebate, others pay an excess. For all Premier, Division 1 & 2 matches, each club must complete the Referee Expenses form via Survey Monkey, within 3 days of the match, so that it is included in the equalisation, otherwise your club will lose out & pay more, so you need to ensure it is sent. Clubs will be sent the Survey Monkey links & they are also available in downloads on our website. Cup Rules Please check your relevent County FA Cup rules, as there may be some differences between Norfolk & Suffolk rules. Please note that for Norfolk Cups, if extra-time is required, it is 15 minutes each way, but for League KO Cups it is 10 minutes each way. Suffolk FA have removed the extra-time, so go straight to penalties. Check the ko cup rules for player elligibility, especially for transferred players and extra conditions for semi-finals & final. Dugouts & Technical Areas All clubs must provide Dugouts & Technical Areas for all matches. The only people who are allowed in the Technical Area, during the match, are those who are named on the teamsheet, handed to the referee prior to the match - 3 substitutes & 4 club officials. Substitute Bibs The league have issued all teams with 3 substitute bibs with Respect wording, these must be worn by all substitutes during each match. 5
Substitute Boards These were issued to all Premier clubs & must be used for all league & cup matches. Sin Bins The FA are trialling Sin Bins this season, this will apply to all league & ko cup matches, including Mummery Cup but excluding Premier matches. Full details were explained to clubs at SGM on 10 th Aug 2017 & relevant documents are available on our website in downloads. Regionalisation Division 5 North & 5 South are regionalised & teams in these divisions are reviewed & adjusted prior to each new season. FA Charter Standard The League is FA Charter Standard & all existing clubs must be Charter Standard apart from new teams, who have until end of first season to comply. Achieving the standard has opened up opportunities for our clubs to gain access to courses and other benefits. It is important that each club takes advantage of courses that are offered, especially the First Aid Courses. If in doubt contact your County FA. Respect Respect Codes of Conduct links will be issued to all clubs, please use them. These are also available along with Respect Guide Handbooks on our league website and further details also available on FA website. Main Respect actions are at rear of League Handbook: a) Respect Handshake for players prior to each match. b) Club & Match Official brief meeting prior to each match. c) Club must ensure that all abide by Respect guidelines. d) pitch is roped off for Senior Matches and either roped off or an extra line for Junior matches. Respect Awards The league have Respect Awards at AGM, for the best behaved clubs, based on their discipline points for the season. The latest five winners each received a Certificate and a cheque for 100. Respect is important, to make the game more enjoyable and safer for all. FA Discipline Details are available on both Norfolk FA & Suffolk FA websites, including an interactive FA Discipline Handbook. Automatic suspensions now commence 7 days after the date of the offence, not 14 days. It is your responsibility to keep a record of all bookings & send offs, & remind players & managers when a suspension applies, even if the charge has not been processed on Wholegame. Football categories are: Saturday, Sunday, Midweek, Representative, Schools, Veterans and Friendly. There is no longer a category covering just youth football. If, for example, a 16 year old player were to be sent off playing for their Sunday youth team, their suspension would prevent them from playing any Sunday football, including adult (should they play for an adult team). A player sent off in a Friendly, is only suspended from Friendly matches. However a player may still be suspended from all football, for some serious offences. Clubs discipline is now processed online via the FA Wholegame system. Please refer to the details available online and if in doubt contact your County FA. Payments to league account Payments for fees, fines, transfers etc, can be made direct to the league Bank Account: Sort Code : 40 35 09 Account No: 14 11 63 72 Please do not be afraid to ask questions, we are all here to help. Chris McCullough (Hon Secretary) 18 th August 2017 6