8. Qualification of Players
8.(A) (i) Contract players, as defined in Football Association Rules, are not allowed in this Competition. A contract player may only play for the Club that holds his contract.
It is the responsibility of each Club to ensure that any Player signing a registration form for that Club has, where necessary, the required International Transfer Certificate. Clearance is required for any Player aged 12 and over crossing borders including Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
(ii) No player registered with a F.A. Premier League or Football League Academy will be permitted to play in this competition. A Player registered with a Centre of Excellence may only play in this Competition subject to the Regulations of the Programme for Excellence.
A player registered with a Centre of Excellence will not be allowed to register and play in this competition.
A player already registered with a club in this competition who becomes a registered player with a Centre of Excellence club will be allowed to play for that club they are registered with until the end of that current season. The Centre of Excellence club must give written permission to the player before he can play, the club are to provide to the Registration Secretary proof of that permission.
Any club found infringing this rule will be dealt with under Rule 8 (o).
(iii) While serving in any branch of Her Majesty's Regular Forces, a player must first obtain the consent of his Association Secretary before signing a registration form to play for a Club.
(B) A registered youth playing member of a Club is one who, being in all other respects eligible, has:-
(i) Signed a fully and correctly completed Competition registration form in ink, countersigned by his /her parent or guardian and by an Officer of the Club, and who has been registered with the (Registrations) Secretary prior to playing and whose completed registration counterfoil has been received by the Club prior to playing. The registration document must incorporate any known serious medical conditions of the player and emergency contact details of the player's parents or guardians. These details must be available at matches and training events the player attends within the management of the Club or Competition.
(ii) A team will be allowed to make up to three emergency registrations per match on the day providing the following procedure is complied with. The team will have to obtain permission from the Registration Secretary before making any signings. The team must email the player's full name/s and date of birth/s to the Registration Secretary by 22.00hrs on a Saturday prior to the match. The Registration Secretary will email the decision back to the team by 9.00hrs on Sunday morning of the match. The player/s must sign a fully and correctly completed competition registration form in ink on the day of the match prior to playing. Countersigned by an Officer of the team and witnessed by an Officer of the opposing team. The completed registration form MUST BE submitted to the Registration Secretary within three days (Sundays excluded) subsequent to the match. The player/s shall not play again until the team is in possession of the completed counterfoil/s. The registration document must incorporate any known serious medical conditions of the player/s and emergency details of the player's parents or guardians. These details must be available at matches and training events the player/s attends within the management of the Club or Competition.
(iii) All clubs must take to their games their registration counter foils as per rule 8B (i) and (ii) and produce if requested by another club. If either club fails to produce the counter foils then this should be reported to the match referee. Clubs failing to comply shall be fined £50.00 and may include other sanctions as required by the league management committee. Registration checks may take place at any time on instruction of the Chief Executive or Registration Secretary and can and carried out by any officer or league committee member under instruction.
Registration forms may also be submitted to the (Registrations) Secretary by facsimile machine or electronic mail prior to the player playing. The original document must be forwarded by post within two days of the match to the registration secretary.
The registration document must incorporate a current passport-size photograph of the player seeking registration together with proof of the player's date of birth.
(iii) The registration document must include two passport size photographs.
(iv) Each team must have 14 days prior to the incumbent playing season, a minimum of one qualified coach/manager and 14 qualified players to commence their fixtures.
(v) Correspondence relating to registration forms and/or transfers requiring a return to the registrations secretary must enclose a SAE. Any club failing to supply this shall be fined £10.00.
The qualification dates for the competition shall be as follows:
Mini-Soccer
To play in a KO Cup game or a game where points are awarded, or results published, a player must have achieved the age of 8 on or before 31st August.
Under 7 - the player must have attained the age of 6 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season but must be under the age of 7 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 8 - the player must be under the age of 8 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 9 - the player must be under the age of 9 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 10 - the player must be under the age of 10 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
In accordance with the foregoing qualifications a player in the above age ranges must not play in a match where any other player is older or younger by 2 years or more.
Youth Football
Under 11 - the player must have attained the age of 10 but must be under the age of 11by midnight 31st August in the playing season if the format is 9 v 9, the player must have attained the age of 9 but must be under 11 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 12 - the player must be under the age of 12 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 13 - the player must be under the age of 13 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 14 - the player must be under the age of 14 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 15 - the player must be under the age of 15 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 16 - the player must be under the age of 16 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 17 - the player must be under the age of 17 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
Under 18 - the player must be under the age of 18 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season.
In accordance with the foregoing qualifications a player under the age of 15 as at midnight on 31st August in the playing season must not play in a match where any other player is older or younger by 2 years or more.
(The above qualification dates are subject to the provisions contained in FA Rule C.4(a) (v). (vi) and (vii).
(D) A player having taken part in matches for any Club affiliated to any County Football Association shall not be allowed to join, be transferred to, or sign for a Club in the Competition without first proving to the officials of the intended Club that the player has discharged all reasonable financial liabilities to the previous Club or Clubs, and a Club official may not accept such player's signature without first ascertaining whether such claims have been discharged to the satisfaction of the Club, or Clubs, for which the player last played.
(E) Registration forms shall be obtained from the (Registrations) Secretary (on prepayment of £70.00 u18 & u16 and £60.00 u15, u14 and u13).
(F) The Management Committee shall decide all registration disputes.
In the event of a player signing a registration form or having a registration submitted for more than one Club priority of registration shall decide for which Club the player shall be registered. The (Registrations) Secretary shall notify the Club last applying to register the player of the fact of the previous registration.
(G) It shall be deemed misconduct for a player to:-
(i) Play for more than one Club in the Competition in the same season without first being transferred.
(ii) Having signed for one Club in the Competition, sign for another Club in the competition in that season except for the purpose of a transfer.
(iii) Submit a signed registration form for registration that the player had wilfully neglected to accurately or fully complete.
(H) (i) The Management Committee shall have the power to accept the registration of any player subject to the provisions of clauses (ii) and (iii) below.
(ii) The Management Committee shall have power to refuse, cancel or suspend the registration of any player or may fine any player, at their discretion who has been charged and found guilty of registration irregularities. (Subject to Rule 16).
(iii) The Management Committee shall have power to make application to refuse or cancel the registration of any player charged and found guilty of undesirable conduct (subject to Rule 16) subject to the right of appeal to the FA or the relevant County Football Association. Undesirable conduct shall mean an incident of repeated proven misconduct, which may deter a participant from being involved in this Competition. Application should be made to the parent County of the Club the player is registered or intending to be registered with.
(iv) For a player who has previously has a registration removed in accordance with clause (iii) but has a registration accepted at the expiry of the exclusion will be considered to be under a probationary period of 12 months. Whilst under the probationary period, should the player commit a further act of proven misconduct under the jurisdiction of the competition (excluding standard dismissals), the competition would be empowered to consider a further charge of bringing the competition into disrepute.
(Note: Action under Clause (iii) shall not be taken against a player for misconduct until the matter has been dealt with by the appropriate Association, and then only in cases of the player bringing the Competition into disrepute and will in any case be subject to an Appeal to the Football Association.) All decisions must include the period of restriction. For the purpose of this Rule, bringing the competition into disrepute can only be considered where the player has received in excess of 112 days' suspension, or 10 matches in match based discipline, in a period of two years or less from the date of the first offence for any team playing in this competition.
(I) Subject to FA Rule 2C(a) dealing with players without a written contract when a player desires a transfer, the Club the player wishes to transfer to shall submit a transfer form to the (Registrations) Secretary accompanied by a fee of £10.00. Such transfer shall be referred by the (Registrations) Secretary to the Club for which the player is registered. Should this Club object to the transfer it should state its objections in writing to the (Registrations) Secretary and to the player concerned within seven days of receipt of the transfer form Upon receipt of the Club's consent, or upon its failure to give written objection within seven days, the (Registrations) Secretary may, on behalf of the Management Committee, transfer the player who shall be deemed eligible to play for the new Club from such date or Seven days after receipt of such transfer.
(J) A player may not be registered for a Club nor transferred to another Club in the Competition after 31st March 2013 except by special permission of the Management Committee.
(i) Players of any club completing its fixtures before the 31st March will not be allowed to transfer or register with another club within this competition except by special permission of the management committee.
(K) A Club shall keep a list of the players it registers and a record of the games in which they have played, and shall produce such records upon demand by the Management Committee.
In the event a Club has more than one team in an age group, each team must be clearly identifiable but not designated ‘A' or ‘B' or 1st or 2nd. etc. In such cases, players will be registered for one team only. A players so registered will be allowed to play for his Club in a younger or older age group within the provisions of Rule 8 (B).
(L) A register containing the names of all players registered for each Club, with the date of registration, shall be kept by the (Registrations) Secretary and shall be open to the inspection of any duly appointed Member Club representative at all Management Committee meetings or at other times mutually arranged. Registrations are valid for one Season only.
(M) A player shall not be eligible to play for a team in any special championship, promotion or relegation deciding match (as specified in Rule 12(A)) unless the player has played three games for that team in this Competition in the current season.
(O) (i) Any team playing an unregistered or otherwise ineligible player or players shall have the points gained in the match deducted from its total and may be fined and/or otherwise dealt with at the discretion of the Management Committee.
(ii) In addition the team shall have three points deducted from its total at the discretion of the Management Committee and may be dealt with in any further manner which is thought to be fit.
(iii) The Management Committee may, at its discretion, award the points available in the match in question to the opponents, subject to the match not being ordered to be replayed.
(The following Clause applies to Competitions involving players in full-time secondary education):-
(P) (i) Priority must be given at all times to school and school organisations' activities. This is not applicable for under 17/18 football.
(ii) The availability of children must be cleared with the Head Teachers (except for Sunday Competitions).
(iii) Children under 15 shall not play in a team involving players who are more than 2 years older.
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