PAASL Player Newsletter – Fall 2018
Welcome to the latest newsletter from the PAASL Board of Directors (BOD). The BOD has three new policy changes affecting our players. All of our policy changes are based on our player surveys and Referee Feedback we receive. Thanks to all of our players for helping to shape your league.
Evening A required to register with California Soccer Association – North (CSAN)
As communicated in two previous BOD newsletters, PAASL needs to become USSF affiliated in order to have equal access to our new referees. Given the severe shortage of referees in the Bay Area and the ever increasing number of games hosted by local youth clubs, USSF affiliation is critical. USSF affiliation is obtained by having our players register and join CSAN.
Based on the increase in player satisfaction regarding the new referees in our Evening A division, to test CSAN registration, PAASL has decided to require that all Evening A players register with CSAN online before you are permitted to register for the next Evening A session which starts play January 2019. The Evening A division has shown the largest increase in referee satisfaction and thus, USSF affiliation is critical to that division. You can find the instructions and download the PDF doc here.
PAASL understands this is an inconvenience to our Evening A players. To help alleviate this burden, PAASL will be paying for Evening A player registrations to CSAN through December 1, 2018 (a $25 value for a 1 year membership). As such, all players who think they want to play in Evening A at some point during 2019, but not necessarily the next session beginning January 2019, may want to consider registering with CSAN at PAASL’s cost.
FIFA/IFAB Laws of the Game: Advantage Rule
Back in April 2018, PAASL enacted a local rule asking referees NOT to provide Advantage, which is a deviation from FIFA/IFAB Laws of the game: Rule 5. The reason for this was an attempt to increase player safety by having more fouls called. The actual effect has been no increase in player safety and confusion in enforcement among our referee community. Effective November 1, 2018 (11/1/18), PAASL will realign itself with FIFA/IFAB Laws of the game and permit referees to provide Advantage during play. When Advantage is provided, you should see referees signal with two sweeping arms forward, or hear them yell “Advantage, Play on!”. Please remember that providing advantage involves an element of subjective determination, including whether a foul was serious enough that Advantage should not be given. The BOD asks that all players get on with play and avoid dissent. The Referee Feedback form, which provides trackable data on the effects of these rule changes, is the proper forum to voice your positive and constructive feedback on referee performance.
PAASL Palo Alto Residency Requirements
PAASL has consistently represented itself as a Palo Alto community organization and regularly publicized that our Palo Alto residency registration rate is vital in acquiring the fields we use to host our games. In years past, we had mandated our Evening division be 50% Palo Alto residents to maintain our Palo Alto residency standards. As our Sunday divisions have also experienced an increase in field usage, both in the summertime and especially during our “Rainy Season” schedule which exclusively uses turf fields from November through March, PAASL is hereby adopting a new policy whereby our Sunday divisions must have a 30% Palo Alto residency rate, and our Evening divisions must have a 40% Palo Alto residency rate. Most divisions will experience only mild differences in registration competition. However, PAASL expects registration for the Sunday B division to become more competitive, resulting in a substantially faster registration close and shifting of more players to the waitlist than in previous sessions. PAASL encourages all Palo Alto resident players to register early during the registration period. The more Palo Alto residents that register, the more players we can accept overall. Any players with Palo Alto resident friends interested in playing soccer, please encourage them to play PAASL.
PAASL greatly appreciates your understanding as changes are made to ensure the long-term viability of PAASL and enhance the playing experience. We greatly appreciate everyone’s continued participation and patronage. We look forward to seeing everyone on the pitch!