Duplicate numbers

[Hawks Coach]

Originally posted by Brian Watson
My guess is you stick the real #4 with all three, and then you string up the freshman scorekeeper.

Is the scorekeeper responsible for remembering a face with every uniform number? I really am just asking, because it isn't clear to me who should be responsible for catching this error. If two players wear the same number and don't go in at the same time or sub for each other, I can see how a scorekeeper (and a ref) might fail to notice.

This is not just a hypothetical. On two different teams, I have had kids show up with "last year's jersey" which has a number that duplicates another player's number (this happens in AAU clubs when players change teams, and in rec ball when you get the same color uniform two years straight). One I caught before the game and fixed the problem by taping over one number, but in the other the second player was in the game before I noticed. We did the tape thing to change the number and took the T.