Policies and Regulations

Player Eligibility

A player is eligible to play at the USAFL National Championships if they have satisfied the following:

• Must be current on USAFL registration fees
• Must have earned a minimum of 6 Nationals Eligibility Points (NEP) by playing in USAFL sanctioned matches for their designated club during the 2014 season or they must have an approved Nationals Eligibility Exemption that has been granted for their division they are playing in.
• The minimum NEP is waived for the Women's Division (no exemption is required)
• Each player must check in for nationals.  If checking in on Saturday, this must be done no later than 30 minutes prior to the first match you are playing in.

Player Registration

Players may check in Friday night (recommended) at the Embassy Suites or during the weekend at the grounds.  Registration runs from 6pm to 11pm on Friday and from 8am on Saturday and Sunday. 

• All players must be registered before checking in as only players with 6 NEP or an exemption are eligible to play.
• Players with eligibility exemptions should be current in their USAFL dues prior to checking in.  While payment will be accepted at check in, it will go much faster if exempted players are already paid.
• All players must present a government issued identification upon check-in.
• Players whose nationality has not been verified at a previous national tournament, must present a passport or birth certificate (with other ID) to prove their nationality.  All players who claim National status but are unverified, will be considered non-Nationals for purposes of the 50/50 rule. 

Please note that if you created a new account at usafl.com instead of registering under an existing account, you will need to reverify your nationality. Club admins can check on the nationality verification for all players on their club via Club Admin.

Game Day Process for Clubs

Team Sheets

Clubs will no longer need to submit paper team sheets.  Rosters with jersey numbers must be submitted online no later than 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start of your match.  When creating a roster after your first match, it will fill in the players from the previous match.  Match sheets (combined team sheet for both clubs) will be printed by the league and delivered to the field prior to the match. The match sheet will list players that are ineligible to play for the following reasons:

• Player is not checked in for nationals
• Player is not current in USAFL dues
• Player has not earned the required Nationals Eligibility Points and has not been granted an Eligibility Exemption for their division.
• Player has played a game in a higher division.
• Player has already played a game in that round.  E.g. if this is the team's 2nd match, they cannot play in the 2nd match for any other team.

Rosters can be created and updated at the Club Admin Kiosk located at Tournament Central. Smart phones or tablets with internet access can also be used.

The match sheet displays the player's effective nationality for nationals.  If the player's nationality has not been verified, they will be considered a non-national and count against the 50/50 rule.  Club Admin lists each player's nationality verification status.  Players may verify their nationality by presenting  a passport or birth certificate and government issued ID when they check in.

Roster Limits

The following limits are in effect for the number of players that can be added to a roster:

* = The LMS only supports 31 players from a single team on a roster.

Moving between Divisions

If a club has multiple teams entered in the tournament, players may move between divisions subject to the following constraints

• A player may move to a higher division but may not move to a lower division. If a player gets promoted to a higher division they may not play any additional games in a lower division.
• A player is considered to have played in a match by being on the final roster for the match (30 minutes prior to the game's scheduled start).  If a player is not on the roster for a match, they are ineligible for that match.
• A player may not play multiple games in the same round.  For example, if a player plays in their D-4 team's 2nd match at 1pm they can not play in a D-2 match at 3pm. 

USAFL Coaches Code of Conduct

All club coaches are required to complete the coaches code of conduct prior to Nationals.  Coaches can complete the code of conduct here >

Alcohol Policy

All clubs are required agree to and abide by to the USAFL's Alcohol Policy below. This policy pertains to alcohol consumption at all National Tournament venues including fields and parking lots:

The USAFL annually obtains a local liquor permit for the national tournament weekend at the field location commonly known as the “beer garden”. To obtain the permit, the league must abide by specific state and local laws such as maintaining a designated area for consumption, and hiring a staff that is certified in alcohol serving standards. Should violations occur regarding alcohol, the league will be barred from obtaining a future liquor license. It takes only one incident. Bottom line, this is a privilege that can be taken away forever and impact the enjoyment of the weekend for all.

Alcohol rules at Nationals:

1. Must be 21 years of age and comply with all state and local liquor laws;
2. Consumption must occur within designated area;
3. No outside alcohol may be bought onto the tournament grounds.

If registered players are consuming alcohol outside of the designated area at the field venue, the following actions may occur:

1. Said player/s will be handed over to local law enforcement;
2. Evidence of any liquor violation will be passed by the USAFL to local law enforcement;
3. Said player/s will be sent to tribunal and penalized up to permanent loss of USAFL membership;
4. If the said player/s are registered players of a USAFL affiliated Club, the Club of said player/s will be subject to tribunal, including a financial penalty up to $1000 by the USAFL.