Officiating 101 - Pregame Positioning - 2 person

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Adam

I look to verify two things.
1. There are no duplicate numbers.
2. There are at least as many names in the book as players warming up for each team.

3. Illegal numbers.

For some reason this was a point of emphasis in the Catholic middle school league that I officiated in this past winter. Sure enough, I discovered a number six before the season was over. I had the same team twice. Both times the coach didn't want to give up his right to stand, so he had one player play the first half, and then, after informing the officials, and the scorekeeper (I also informed the opposing coach, even though, surprisingly, it's not required by rule), he had the "first half" player switch jerseys with the illegally numbered jersey player at halftime so that the previously illegally numbered player could now legally play in the second half, now with a legal number, with no penalty, other than one player, a different one each half, having to sit on the bench for that half. Man? There had to be an easier, better way to explain this?