The Year End Tournament is the LWYSA championship tournament for age groups U10 thru U12. Only LWYSA teams are in the tournament and all divisions in each age group are eligible to participate. The YET is a competitive culminating tournament in which teams that place receive awards.
Referee Assignor: [a3]Tim Mortimore Rules of Competition: [a2]Click Here Shoot Out Guide: [a4]Click Here (also called "Taking of Kicks from the Penalty Mark") Player Cards: No Data Current as of: 10/29/15
It is MANDATORY that you read this entire article carefully BEFORE you sign up to officiate any YET matches. Referees will sign up for YET matches using the same mechanism (this web site) as they do for regular season matches. Some matches (such as semi-finals or finals) may not be available to you to "self-assign". Those matches will be manually assigned by an assignor. CONFLICT OF INTEREST WARNING: You MUST NOT sign up for any games that are of the same age and gender as any relative. We understand that many of you are related to players that may be participating in the YET. You do not want to find yourself in a position where you can be accused of having some influence on a game, or upcoming game, that a relative of yours will play in. Since you don't know the names of teams that are playing after the first set of games, it is important that you avoid any chance that you could be a referee of your relative's games...or be a referee in a game that decides the next team your relative will play.
In addition, when you sign up for games, you should not officiate (unless requested by an Assignor) the same team twice. This means that once you sign up to do a match with a division of "Octo", "Qtr", "Semi", you should not sign up for the same gender and age group for the remainder of the YET. Also, unless you are on the same field, you must take care to allow time AFTER the game before signing up for your next game. These games may include overtime and kicks from the mark, which can easily add 30 minutes to a game.
2015 Special Note: Because of the extreme shortage of referees, we may not be able to strictly adhere to our objective of not having a referee see the same team too many times. If the system allows you to sign up, take the game. We will be monitoring signups and will move refs if required. If you are moved, it will be to a match at the same time and location.
The official "Year End Tournament" (YET) rules are on the LWYSA web site. The reference is above. READ THEM. It cannot be stressed enough that you MUST know these rules well. All matches must end with a winner. Therefore you must know the rules for overtime and substitutions during overtime. Also, you must study CAREFULLY the procedure for taking "kicks from the mark" (a shootout). Follow the link above.
Every game is important to a team's chances to move on. The players and spectators have a right to expect you to know the rules of competition. Make certain that you print these and bring them with you. Send a note to "refereementors@lwysa.org" if ANYTHING is unclear to you - the sooner the better (don't wait for the day before the tournament to study). Study the rules more than once before the tournament.
- is there to remind you the match "Requires a Result". That means somebody must WIN. In the event that a game is tied after overtime, the winner of the match is determined by the "taking of kicks from the penalty mark", also known as a "shoot out". The procedures a referee must follow for this are very precise. The Shoot Out Guide
explains the procedures. In most cases, there will be a tournament official about to assist with the shoot out. However, they have other duties and it is possible you may have to do this alone. STUDY the document. As above, ask question BEFORE the event if you need to.
All games are played according to their normal season length. U10 plays 25 minutes. U11 and U12 teams play 30 minute halves. If overtime is required, the teams play two 5 minute Overtime periods. THERE IS NO SUDDEN DEATH!!!! (i.e. No "Golden Goal")
During "regulation" play, Substitutions take place just as during the regular season. Either team may substitute on any dead ball, subject to your permission. However, if it is necessary for you to play Overtime periods, the rules for substitution change as follows:
There are a couple of important little twists to this last item. A player MAY be substituted during the overtime period if they are injured. If they are replaced because they are injured, they may not re-enter the match. This includes - they may not re-enter to participate in a shootout. Also, removing a player from the field WITHOUT REPLACING THEM is not the same a substituting that player. Imagine that you notice a player is bleeding. You know that a player may not remain on the field if they are bleeding. Therefore, you stop play and ask the player to leave the field. If the coach chooses, they MAY play short, take care of the bleeding player, and the player MAY reenter the game (when you give permission), because the player has never been substituted. The same thing holds true in the case of any injury. The player has not been substituted out of the game until the coach asks for your permission to send in a replacement player and that player steps onto the field. If the Overtime period ends while the player is still being treated, the coach still has the option to either substitute the player (as an injured player), or allow the player to participate in the shoot out.
Protests are not permitted during the YET. If somebody says they want to protest, have them contact a tournament official. Just to be prudent - make a note of when they indicated they would protest and the score of the game at the time. Be polite. Do not argue. Just acknowledge their issue, have them go visit a tournament official, and get the game going again. It is perfectly acceptable to say "Coach, what I saw was ______, therefore I did ______. I understand you may have seen things differently, but I have to make my decisions based on what I saw." Leave it at that and get the game going.