Tournament Rules

Purpose

The Tournament Rules serve to codify the rules of the game being applied by the umpires during the October 17-18, 2015 USAFL Nationals matches for all games, Men’s and Women’s.

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 2015 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 required for the Women's Division this year.
• 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 Wyndham or during the weekend at the grounds.  Registration runs from 6:30pm 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 roster limit for the Division 3 Final is 24.

** = 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 be moved to a higher division or a lower division, but may not play multiple games in the same round. For example, if a player plays in their Division 4 team's second match at 1pm, they can not play in a Division 2 match at 3pm.

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.

If a player has played 2 games in a higher division they are not allowed to play in a lower division final.

2015 AFL Laws

The 2015 Laws of Australian Rules Football will be applicable for all matches with the following exceptions noted below. All umpire decisions during play will be final.

Game Time

All matches will be two (2) halves of twenty (20) minutes with no time on, excepting at the discretion of the field umpire (for major delays such as injuries requiring medical attention). Halftime break will be five (5) minutes. Field umpires will signal two-minute and one-minute warnings prior to starting each half.

Kick in After a Behind

Players WILL be required to wait for goal flags to be waved before bringing the ball back into play. All other kick in rules apply.

Deliberate Rushed Behind

There is no penalty for a deliberate rushed behind. Score one point. Kick in rules apply.

2-Meter Rule on Free Kicks

When a free kick has been awarded, a defensive player my run through the mark so long as an opponent is within five (5) meters. The AFL changed in 2013 from the five (5) meters to two (2) meters, which will be adopted by the USAFL in 2014.

Contact Between Ruckmen

Ruckmen will not be allowed to contact each other prior to the ruck contest. This 1-meter rule will be enforced by tournament umpires, who will separate ruckmen before throwing the ball up and require 1-meter separation on throw ins.

Advantage Rule

The advantage rule will be applied at the discretion of the Field Umpire (not at the discretion of the player as in the AFL).

Law 15.4.5 (a) (ii) Prohibited Contact

Forceful Contact Below the Knees – A free kick will be awarded against any player under existing Law 15.4.5 a (ii) Prohibited Contact, who makes forceful contact below the knees of an opponent (this does not apply to smothers with the hands or arms).

Send-off – Yellow Card

Any player sent off with a Yellow card will not be allowed to re-enter the game for a period of fifteen (15) minutes. A 50-meter penalty is assessed. That player is replaceable. A second Yellow card to that same player is an automatic Red card offence (see Red card below).

Send-off – Red Card

Any player sent off with a Red card will not be allowed to re-enter for the remainder of the game. A 50-meter penalty is assessed. That player is NOT replaceable for fifteen (15) minutes. The player is automatically reported and will stand tribunal immediately following the match. Independent USAFL representatives will jointly convene the tribunal.

Blood Rule

The game clock will not stop when a player leaves the field under the blood rule. The replacement player should enter the field immediately and the game will be restarted when the departing player is off the field.

50-Meter Penalty

50-Meter penalties shall be assessed at 50-meters in Division I and 25-meters in all other divisions.

Emergency Umpire

We will be using an Emergency Umpire for some matches. The emergency umpire may be available take over if an umpire is injured, and has the ability to report players and team officials, but will not have the ability to call any infringements during the match.