Coach drags out the rule book

[Back In The Saddle]

You might just phrase it in the form of a question with an obvious answer...

"Any eligible player or substitute can show these shots, right ref?"

...as you're walking Little Johnny to the table to check in.

This, IMHO, has both the advantage of using rule book terminology, which might just jog the ref's memory, and being non-confrontational. Because you're walking Johnny to the table, if the ref isn't sure, you may just get him in anyway.

If the ref doesn't let you bring in a sub, then maybe contact whomever is in charge of getting refs for the park district the next day. Who knows, it may even result in an email going out to all of the officials "reminding" them about proper procedure on this. In which case, you've done more good than just getting one set of refs to let you do the right thing.

Just my $0.02