NCAA Soccer Rules; Leaving the Field for Religious Reasons

by John Puglisi, NISOA Past - President, NISOA National clinician and NISOA local assessor.

The NCAA Soccer Secretary Rules Editor, Ken Andres has ruled on the issue of a player requesting to leave the field for religious reasons as follows:

As the Soccer Secretary Rules Editor, I am issuing a ruling that a player is permitted to leave the field of play for religious reasons and may re-enter the game when beckoned by the referee. If the player is not substituted for, the team shall play short. However, if the player is substituted for, the re-entry provisions of R. 3.5 apply.

I suggest that you provide the involved institution with a copy of this ruling for future reference.

Lastly, I recommend the involved institution advise the referee crew and the opposing team of this issue and my ruling prior to the start of any game.

Kenneth G. Andres, Jr.
NCAA Soccer Secretary Rules Editor

In summary, if the player is a field player, leaves the field in the first half (or overtime periods) for religious reasons and is substituted for, that player may not re-enter in that period.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2014 at 9:59 am and is filed under Instruction with keyword(s) . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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