This Update has FIVE important messages this week which we would ask you to please read.
YEL Community Fund
Power Play
Advanced notice – Transfer/registration deadline
IMPORTANT UPDATE from The FA
FA rules regarding formats teams can play during the season
YEL Game Day Hotline
YEL Community Fund
All YEL clubs are eligible to apply to the YEL Community fund for a grant. Clubs can apply for a grant of up to £250 as many times as they wish but can only be successful once during the course of the season due to the size of fund that’s available. Grants can be for any number of different projects from supporting managers getting their FA qualifications through to contributions towards club wide development projects. Applications for Period 4 close on 31st March and can be made via Scoreline, selecting YEL Community from the left hand menu. Applications can ONLY be made by club officials. So, if you’re a manager and have a project in mind, speak to your club secretary and get your application in now.
Power Play
To be clear, the YEL has NOT adopted Power Play. The reason is that it can distort the results which we rely on heavily to determine the ability level of each team. Unlike other leagues, we monitor the results of U7/U8 football very closely over a four/six week period. The results give us a strong indication of the ability level of each team and allows us to move teams around into development groups of similar ability teams. Similar story for U9s & U10s. The friendly group matches help us to determine which divisions the teams go into when creating divisions in the two competitive phases that The FA permit each season.
Recommendation: In a game where the score is becoming excessive ie seven clear goal advantage to one team and little prospect of it turning round, coaches should discuss what is happening between themselves and then, if in agreement, decide to call the game at that point and record that score with the league. Teams can then have an additional (non YEL) game during the remaining time where Power Play can be used or teams mixed to provide a more comfortable and enjoyable experience for the team that is losing. It also gives the other team different development challenges.
To clarify, Power Play should NOT be used during the ‘official’ YEL game until the score that is being submitted to the league has been agreed.
Advance Notice – Transfer/Player registration deadline
REMINDER: As per YEL rules 18(I) A Player may not be registered for a Club nor transferred to another Club in the Competition after 16th March except by special permission of the Management Committee.
If you are looking to sign/register an additional player/s the transfer/registration must be completed by 16th March.
IMPORTANT UPDATE from The FA
The FA have asked us to pass on the following message to all users of Full-Time and Matchday app
Full-Time & Matchday will be offline to allow for essential security updates from March 5th-7th. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
FA rules regarding formats teams can play during the season
Our understanding from County FAs is that teams can only play matches in the format they are entered into leagues at during the season from September through to June ie U7s/U8s can only play 5v5; U9s/U10s can only play 7v7; U11s/U12s can only play 9v9. We understand that this applies to all games including friendlies arranged outside the league. We would urge all teams who are considering playing a different format game to seek clarification of this from their County FA. We are passing this information on to ensure none of our teams fall foul of this inadvertently.
For information – Rule 18(C) in the Standard Code of Rules for Youth football states:
…’Children shall not play, and shall not be permitted or encouraged to play, in a match between sides of more than the stated number of players, according to their age group’
YEL Game Day hotline
If you have any issues or on the day queries relating to your game only, you can contact the YEL Game Day Hotline number for advice.
07510 305354
Available between 9.30am and 12.30pm on Sat/Sun
ONLY AVAILABLE FOR ON THE DAY MATCH RELATED ENQUIRIES – no other issues will be discussed.
Contacting the YEL
If you email the YEL OFFICE – yel@live.co.uk – please ensure you state the team name, age group and playing day so we can quickly deal with the enquiry
Rob Harwood CEO
YEL OFFICE