Slide Tackles to Remain in Beautiful Game

Notes from the NOVA Coaches League Sportsmanship Summit

On 25 Feb, 2013 Steven J hosted the Annual NOVA Coaches League, NOVA-CL, Sportsmanship Summit for the Grey Division.  Steve is the CL manager and has been hosting this summit to bring all the managers from the League together to register for the spring season, discuss rules for the season, and to vote on any changes to the league.  

Manager’s representing sixteen of the eighteen team’s in the grey division were present.  As attendance goes, this seemed like a fabulous turnout, so Steve should be commended for how well he manages this event.

Steve started the meeting bringing up the most important item on his agenda, namely, his decision to require all teams in the league to sign Liability Waivers releasing the NOVA-CL and himself from any personal liability if anyone is injured during a league sanctioned game.  You can find a copy of the signed Team Liability Waiver on our Blog or clicking on the link.

Steve further went on to say that if the teams didn’t sign these waivers they would not compete in the league this season.  Also, in years past we have allowed many players under the age of 30 to play in our games with the approval of both managers at game time.  Specifically, we allowed for the children of team members to play with their father’s, for instance.  Going forward the League has changed this policy and will now prohibit any player under the age of 18 from playing in a League sanctioned match.

After the Team Managers signed the required waivers in order to register, they then have the option to pass the liability down to individual team members.  You will find the Orangemen Liability Waiver also posted to this blog site, or just click on the link.  My policy for the agreeing to the player liability waiver will be as follows.  If you plan to play in an Orangemen match you must click “YES” or “Maybe” on the Orangemen invite.  Agreement with the eVite is an acceptance of the liability waiver as it currently reads on this website.

This decision was not put to a vote for the team managers.  The decision was made unilaterally by the league management and cannot be negotiated.  Several points were made by Team Managers that will be addressed in subsequent seasons.  The most important point made by Dick C of the Chantilly Casuals, that the waiver should not intermingle league rules with the release of liability.  The document should not be a specification of rules.  Rules should be contained in a separate document.  Steve has promised that since this is a new policy, we will continue to review and get better with how the waivers are handled.

Steve then went over a general review of how the league works and what his responsibilities are to us as Teams and Players.  He is compensated $55/Team in the Spring/Summer and again in the Fall season.  Each team also pays $25 in the Spring/Summer to pay for the hosting of the league Website (NOVA Coaches League).  You will also find the rules for Grey Division play on this link, and I recommend that you review the rules before our first game...

As you all know, during the Winter Season, we agreed to play with no slide tackling.  There was enough positive push for the no slide tackle rule that the League Felt the teams should vote on whether or not we should continue the no slide tackle rule into the Spring/Summer season.  Steve led the managers in a discussion of the pros and cons of slide tackling and also stated up front that it would take a ⅔ majority to implement such a rule.  Discussion centered around the dangers of slide tackling for those of us growing slower in our old age.  Proponents of slide tackling argued that if safety was a concern we should also eliminate headers in the box and that the elimination of slide tackles changes the beautiful games competitive nature making it harder for us to recruit younger players into our league.  The change to the rule was put to a vote.  Seven (7) managers voted for the “no-slide tackle” rule, nine (9) managers voted against the rule, with Two (2) managers not present.  The Orangemen vote, cast by your’s truly, was to keep the slide tackle in our games.  I’m willing to discuss with any of you if you disagree with my vote this season.  All this said, at any individual games, the managers can agree to no-slide tackles and the referees will support the rule game by game.  Personally I think this is a dumb add as it will confuse everyone...are we sliding or not sliding game to game.  It will have to be pretty significant reason for me to say we will not slide during any given match...extremely cold weather being one, and horrendous field conditions being two.

The season begins in two weeks.  We have one Friendly this weekend against the Turtles.  I have decided to continue collecting dues through the Spring/Summer the way I did so during the Winter Season, that is, to collect $10 per player at each home game.