Tournament Info & Rules

JKP Tournament Information and Rules

ABUSIVE AND DISCRIMINATORY BEHAVIORS—physical, verbal, psychological—defined as any language and/or action used that is intended to insult, degrade, threaten, frighten, harm or harass any participant of an ACSA activity (players, referees, spectator, etc) will not be tolerated by our community (including but not limited to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, xenophobia, etc). Players, volunteers or spectators who violate this policy will be immediately removed from the park.

Just Keep Playing is an 7v7 annual tournament hosted by Austin Community Soccer Association. Like ACSA, JKP follows the same International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules that govern FIFA with the exceptions listed highlighted in ACSA’s playing rules and the exceptions made for 7v7 play (listed below).

TOURNAMENT PLAYING RULES AND FIELD NOTES:

• All gender, open age (16+).
• Everyone gets to play and have fun – don’t be a playing time or ball hog!
• Every player must sign the necessary waivers in League Apps or with an ACSA representative to participate in the tournament.
• Players are issued two official tournament t-shirts (blue-home and grey-away) and a team wrist band. These must be worn to play. Home team will wear blue, away team will wear grey. Players can cut the sleeves or get more creative, but please don’t damage the front image.
• Players were divided evenly as possibly by self-selected gender identity. There should be at least 2 female-identifying or non-binary players on the field at all times unless heat or other health/safety issues don’t allow for it (or players ghosted the team, each team was assigned at least 4). We will respect and uplift the female-identifying and non-binary players in this tournament, not diminish them.
• Fields are set-up for 7v7 play.
• Match times are 30min – 15min halves with 3-5min half time.
• Each field has 1 center referee.
• There is no offsides but cherry-picking is not allowed and will be determined based on the referees’ discretion. For this tournament, cherry-picking is defined as any player that positions themselves behind the opposing team’s last defender on their side of the field.
• Substitution is open, unlimited and “on the fly” (play does not have to be stopped).
• All goals are 1point.
• No player may score more than 3 goals a match.
• A goal is attributed to the last offensive player to touch the ball before it passes over the goal line. A deflection is defined as a shot deemed ON TARGET, but redirected by a defender.
• An own goal is awarded only if the defender makes an intervention which results in the goal being scored, and it was NOT PREVIOUSLY ON TARGET.
• NO SLIDE TACKLES BY FIELD PLAYERS. A sliding tackle or slide tackle is a tackle in which a player deliberately leaves their feet to slide along the ground and take the ball away from the opposing player. Slide tackles result in direct free kick (a direct free kick offense in the box results in a PK).
• A player may slide as long as there are no other players involved or impacted. e.g. keeping a ball in play. A referee may stop play for sliding if they feel the slide was too close to other players or created a dangerous situation.
• Shin guards are not required for this tournament, but players are always encouraged to be safe.
• Regarding jewelry – best practice is for players to leave jewelry at home. If this is not possible, please remove dangling items that could get caught or cause injury to others.

PAGE 59 FROM IFAB “LAWS OF THE GAME” – “Decisions will be made to the best of the referee’s ability according to the [laws] and the ‘spirit of the game’ and will be based on the opinion of the referee, who has the discretion to take appropriate action within the framework of the [laws]. The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final. The decisions of the referee, and all other match officials, must always be respected.”

STANDINGS:

Standings during group play will be determined by points:

• three (3) points for a win
• one (1) for a tie and
• zero (0) for a loss

Tie breakers will be followed in the order of:

• head-to-head record
• goal differential
• most goals scored for
• coin toss

Ties after group play will be determined by penalty kick shootout – 3 players from each team. If after initial round teams are still tied, 3 new players will shootout sudden death.