This rulebook is designed to ensure that the league is run fairly and within the nature it is intended. We have tried not to over complicate with too many rules, some of these are fairly standard, others have been included to provide guidance on how we get through situations that have arose in past seasons.
Games
Fixtures have been released and can be found on your teams profile page on the website. We have provided Gameweek windows for you to scheudle those fixtures within, this is to ensure we spread games across the season and don’t end up with games not played at the end of the season. Whilst it would be great if you stay within the gameweek, we will allow some flexibility as long as games are being played and don’t impact other fixtures. We ask you go through at the start of the season and schedule all games until the end of the season.
Once booked in, if you need to reschedule, you should do this at least 1 week in advance, if the game is unable to be reschduled, the team cancelling will forfeit the game. If the game is cancelled with less than 7 days notice, the team cancelling will forfeit the game.
If you cancel an away game and the pitch can’t be refunded or used elsewhere, the team cancelling will still need to pay their match fee.
Forfeits will be a 3-0 loss, and the team will also be deducted 1 point in the table.
Forfeits in the knockout stage forfeits the entire stage, not just the 1 leg of the fixture.
3 points are awarded for a win.
1 point awarded for a draw.
0 points awarded for a loss.
-1 point for a forfeit.
All games must be played on an artificial surface (3G/4G).
Home teams decide which day of the weekend the games are played on, most teams play on Sundays, but some play on Saturdays, please have flexibility to play on either day as decided by the home team.
Result Confirmation
Both managers of each game must submit a Result Confirmation form, which can be found in your WhatsApp groups.
You will need to provide; Result, Scorers, Yellow Cards and Red Cards, you will also have an opportunity to add any comments about the game you feel the committee should know.
Please ensure these submissions are accurate, submitting incorrect details will be investigated and continued instances of this will be punished with a points deduction.
Squad Registration and Player Eligibility
Squads must be registered ahead of GW1 gameday. Once registered, there can be no changes made to your squad until the next registration window.
Registrations windows:
Pre-season (Before GW1)
Group Stage mid point (Premier: 3rd – 10th November)(Championship: 1st – 8th December)
End of Group stage and pre 1st knockout game
All players within your matchday squads must be registered and on your teamsheet on the website.
In order to be eligible to play, players must be signed up and active within their relevant program. For MvF teams, they must be signed up and active within MvF. For Wellbeing teams, they must be signed up and active within their teams relevant, approved program.
Playing an unregistered or inactive player within a game will result in that game being forfeited as per the forfeit rules above.
Continued use of players unregistered or inactive players will result in further punishment and potential disqualification from the league.
If a player leaves your program during the season, they must also be removed from your squad and will no longer be eligible to play in the league.
A player can only be registered to 1 team across the whole of the NWF League, meaning they can’t be registered for both a Premier and Championship team.
Teams with squads in both leagues:
Whilst you can’t be registered across both squads, in order to ensure that games are completed, we will allow the temporary loan of up to 3 players across teams who have squads in both competitions. This will need to have prior approval from the committee ahead of game day. You can loan up to 3 players to take your matchday squad up to 14, if you are short on players. For Championship teams taking loans from Premier teams, these players should be the substitutes and reserves of the premier team, to try and keep inkeeping with the nature of the Championship competition. You should not be taking the Captain and top scorer. Breaking these rules will result in forfeit the game. Continued breaking of this rule will lead to further punishment and potential disqualification from the league.
We ask that you respect the nature of the competition and play it in the way it is intended.
League Formats
Premier
2 x groups of 6, home and away fixtures.
Top 4 from each group then move into Prem1, bottom 2 from each group move in to Prem2.
Prem1 will be a straight knockout from Quarter final stage through to Final. QF and SF will be 2 legged, home and away. Final will be 1 game.
Knockout format will be 1st from Group A v 4th Group B, 2nd v 3rd, etc.
Prem2 will go into a mini group of 4. 1 legged games, with home team decided at random, 3 games for each team. With the top 2 going in to the final.
Championship
1 group of 8, home and away fixtures.
Top 4 from the group will move into a knockout stage. Home and away in Semi final, 1 game in the final. 1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd.
Tied for points in group stages
Groups will be decided first by number of points won, then by goal difference, then by goals scored. If in the unlikely event that 2 teams are tied on all 3, then we will review h2h results following the same process to decide a winner. If teams still can not be separated, we will go to a 1 legged playoff.
Draws in Knockouts
If after 2 legs, teams are tied, the 2nd leg will go straight to penalties. With the winner of the shootout advancing. Away goals do not count.
Fines and Suspensions
This season we will be introducing fines and suspensions for picking up cards during games.
Suspensions
Red card = 2 game suspension
Double yellow, leading to a red = 1 game suspension
Accumulation of 3 yellow cards = 1 game suspension
Fines
Yellow card = £5
Red Card = £15
Fines to be paid within 2 weeks of receiving the card
Northern Wellbeing Football 