In a junior high school match I was working, I had a coach argue that a player the 7th grade team could not play in the 8th grade game because the state association has a rule about how many games a player can play in each day. Is this a rule the official should try to administer or is this something for the site administration?

Re:
 

I would first refer the incident to the school administrator at the site for a ruling. As an official, we do not have anything to do with eligibility issues other than if an individual is attempting to participate in an illegal uniform, jewelry, or after being Disqualified.

The question is who has jurisdiction over participation of the players - is it the school, theleague, the section, or the state? Our function as an official is to intepret the Rules of the game. We allow others in the sports' governing body to determine who is allowed to participate.

[Edited by MCBear on Feb 13th, 2006 at 01:44 PM]

Regarding eligibility issues, it is the responsibility of the coach who has a question, or the offending school to self-report, to notify the state association. It is NOT the responsibility of the officials to administer issues like that, as they are found nowhere in the rule books.

Thanks for the feedback.

A lot depends on the state you are in. I know in our state some schools are governed by the State HS Activities governing body all the way down to 7th grade and some are only governed down through the 9th grade. Either way it is not your responsibility to determine a players' eligibility other than within the normal bounds of the game.