MYSL “’Town Player Pass”
WYSA teams should NEVER play short-handed and should NEVER need to forfeit a game due to low player numbers. Know your players’ availability! Stress to your team parents to keep you informed when a player cannot attend a game. If you know you will have short numbers, then work with your WYSA Age Director to “borrow” players from another WYSA travel team using the MYSL “Town Player Pass”.
The ‘Town’ Player Pass” pass concept is when a ‘Town’ uses a player from within their own ‘Town’ to play for another team in their town for a regular season league match. It is not the same as secondary rostering. Players are put on a roster, but the ‘Town’ is allowed to use other players from other teams within their own ‘Town’ for a league match. Using a ‘Town’ Player Pass enables a team to temporarily add player(s) to an existing roster. It is for all age groups Grade 3/4 – Post Grad.
Note that the League permits the use of the ‘Town’ Player Pass, but individual Town organizations determine if they want to take advantage of it or not.
Town Player Pass will not be allowed in Championship Playoffs, Post Season Play or the Commissioner’s Cup Tournament.
The ‘Town’ Player Pass allows towns and coaches:
1. The flexibility to reward players who are doing very well on a lower level team the opportunity to come up to the higher team and show how they fit in at that level
2. To give more players additional playing time - because we now have the flexibility to bring players up instead of being forced to maximize our rosters as a way to plan for those situations where players are off at other events (baseball, dance, etc.)
3. To reduce the number of players on the bench - this means players get more time on the field doing what they want to do, play the game.
4. Have more teams in the league - now I can have more evenly matched teams instead of trying to place a lesser skilled player on a higher roster to fill a spot.
This can only make our players better because they will get more opportunities to play.
Purpose:
• Allow coaches more freedom to move players within their own ‘Town’.
• Eliminate administrative paperwork for member Towns who wish to move players internally.
• To give all Towns the ability to move players from within their own ‘Town’ so that they can reinforce squads by moving players from a younger age group or an equal or lower team.
• To create a ‘Town’ mentality over a “team”.
• To provide development opportunities for players by being allowed to experience “playing up”.
i. Logistics:
• ‘Towns’ will still roster teams with MYSL.
• All players rostered to teams within the same ‘Town’ are “‘Town’ pass” eligible.
• There will be no secondary rostering (i.e. players appearing on 2 team rosters for a town simultaneously)
• When a team needs player(s) for a match, they use a player(s) within their own ‘Town’.
• A team having a league match may select up to 4 players from within their own ‘Town’ to play for that team.
• The number of players on the sideline, however, may not exceed the maximum “game roster” roster size.
ii. Game Day Procedure for ‘Town’ Pass:
• Each coach will provide a roster to the opposing coach that indicates if using a ‘Town’ pass player from within their ‘Town’ and who the “’Town’ Player Pass” players are.
• The team official (coach/manager) must communicate their use of ‘Town’ pass players before the game or as soon as practicable following the game, to the:
• League Registrar
• Age Director
• Coach/Manager
• If a player’s passcard is not on-site, he/she is not permitted to play in the game. (Applies only to the Spring Season and Grade 5/6 players and above)
• The coach shall give the referee two copies of the player’s original team roster in addition to the 2 copies of his/her team’s game day roster - indicating on the player pass player’s roster which player is playing up on the Player Pass. (Do not write anything on the roster of the team that the player is playing up on).
• Referees will follow the MYSL rules regarding rosters.
iii. Process For Adding ‘Town’ Pass Players to Your Roster:
• The players “Playing Up” will be added to the “Game Day” team Roster.
• Each ‘Town’ may set up their own process by which teams request ‘Town’ Pass Players be added for specific games (i.e. the deadline when a team must report to the appointed ‘Town’ pass administrator for your ‘Town’).
• The person from the town does not have to be the Registrar, just someone with the authority, the understanding of the ‘Town’ pass system rules, and the access to the ‘Town’ account.
iv. Rules:
• A player may play up for one team no more than 3 times in one season. Example: A player on team #3 can only play on team #2 a maximum of 3 games in one season. However, that same player could play an additional 3 games on team #1.
• A player using the ‘Town’ pass may only play two games in a day.
• A player may not play down in age group per US Youth Soccer and MYSL Rules
• A player is permitted to use the ‘Town’ Player Pass to play for any of a town’s teams placed within the same division
• Having a player drop from a “higher division” team to a “lower division” team will NOT be allowed.
v. Playing Up
• MYSL eligibility Rules for “playing up” in age groups must be adhered to
• Any player utilizing the Player Pass Card who is playing up an age group may not play more than one division lower than that division they are permanently rostered in at the lower age group
(i.e. a Grade 5/6 division 2 player can play Grade 7/8 divisions 1,2 and 3—but not in Grade 7/8 Divisions 4 or 5) (A Grade 3/4 Player playing-up to a Grade 5/6 Team will require a passcard.)
vi. Consequences for Abuse:
• A coach and ‘Town’ guilty of abusing the ‘Town’ Pass will be disciplined by MYSL Soccer and member leagues.
vii. Recommendations
• Town’s using the ‘Town’ pass system should
• Use it as a reward for player(s) who have shown improvement throughout the season
• Have a player participate for one team only per day. This is only a recommendation
• Communicate clearly to all of your parents and players the purpose of this system. Don’t abuse it! To use the Town Player Pass, coaches must either complete the online process in SportsManager or email the form on the next page.
Don’t abuse it!
To use the Town Player Pass, coaches must either complete the online process in SportsManager or email the form found here.