As stated in the Roster Policy, non-roster players are permitted by the League to play for teams other than their own to reduce the likelihood of forfeits because forfeits are universally disliked. In the opinion of the League, certain Prohibited Players should not play as a non-roster player due to the greater likelihood of an impact that player may have on the outcome of a game.
Though the League would prefer never to have a Prohibited Players as a non-roster player for a team, the League recognizes the desire to avoid forfeits as greater than the need to restrict Prohibited Players. However, in the interest of fairness to all teams and in exchange for allowing non-roster players to play (rather than restrict teams to playing with only players from their roster), the League sees fit to impose a restriction on Prohibited Players. While many players may impact games in different ways, the League believes that the most measurable impact is that of players who score for a team.
Prohibited Player. A Prohibited Player is defined as (1) a Top Scorer, (2) a current professional soccer player, or (3) a certain other Players, as defined below.
- Top Scorer. A top scorer is:
- Any male* Player listed on the leaderboard in any league (e.g., Sat/Sun) for the current season or any of the two prior seasons, or
- Any male* non-roster Player who would have been listed on the leaderboard in any league (e.g., Sat/Sun) for the current season or any of the two prior seasons had that Player been on a team’s roster.
- For example, if the current season is Spring ’18, the prior two seasons are Summer ’17 and Fall ’17.
- Exception: If there are two (2) Summer sessions, both will be considered one session for the purposes of counting current and seasons.
- Exception. If a player is a top scorer in a lower division, that player may play (and score) as a non-roster player for a team in a higher division.
- Professional Soccer Player. A professional soccer player is any male* player who holds himself out as a current professional player.
- Examples of professional soccer players include those who are on the Baltimore Blast team and the like.
- Current, defined. A player will be considered a current Professional Soccer Player if he holds himself out as a professional at any time during the current season or either of the two prior seasons.
- Certain Other Players. In an effort to strike a balance between preventing forfeits and ensuring parity/fairness, no male* Player (other than a goalie) may be a non-roster player for any team more than one (1) division lower than his team (see further rationale below list of top scorers). For instance, male players in Serie A are not permitted to play in Serie C or Serie D games; male players in Serie B are not permitted to play in Serie D games, etc.
- Exception: If an upper division player is on the lower division team’s roster, this rule will not apply.
- Note: Previously disallowed players who fell under the “semi-pro” category (e.g., MMSL, Baltimore Kings, etc.) would only be permitted as a non-roster player for Serie A if they have been associated with that semi-pro team at any time during the current season or either of the two prior seasons.
- Teams who may be impacted by this rule should ensure that they have enough Players for their game since they would not be able to pull Players from the prior game.
- Prohibited Player Rule. No team may use a Prohibited Player at any time during that team’s game, if that Prohibited Player brings the team to over 8 male players, unless weather conditions warrant allowing more players (e.g., if there will be water breaks). If a Prohibited Player serves as a non-roster player for a team, any goal(s) scored by that Prohibited Player in that game will not count** toward that team’s totals for the game, the overall score, or goal differential.
- Exception: A Top Scorer in ‘Serie B’ or ‘Serie C’ may be a non-roster player for a team in a ‘Serie A’ game and have his goal(s) count so long as that Top Scorer is not also a Top Scorer in ‘Serie A’.
- For the purposes of the referees, they will record any goal by any player as a good goal and play will be conducted as though it was a good goal. When the scores are sent to the League, the League will adjust the score accordingly, if necessary.
- This rule applies to the League, globally, regardless of what day a player plays on a particular team.
- Note: If a prohibited player brings a team to more than 8 male players, it is exclusively the responsibility of the team that claims to be adversely affected to bring the issue to the attention of the referee. At that point, the team in violation (if applicable) can remedy the violation (e.g., remove the player/s). If the team does not remedy the violation, the referee will report the situation to the League and may be forced to forfeit its game. This forfeit will only affect standings, not the forfeit Fine. This aspect of the rule does not affect any other aspect of the rule.
The following Players are Top Scorers. Captains should be aware of this list before asking a non-roster Player to play for their team.
(Note: The League makes every effort to keep this list as updated as possible. If, however, a player is inadvertently not listed below but they are subject to the Rule because they are a Top Scorer based on the particular season’s leaderboard, that player will remain subject to this rule).
Serie A (min 2 goals)
| Player Name | Season |
| Andres Perez | 2024 Spring |
| Brent Hayward | 2024 Spring |
| Brett Sauerberger | 2024 Summer |
| Cullen Myers | 2024 Spring |
| Danny Hallowell | 2024 Summer |
| Dennis Milletº | 2024 Summer |
| Grant Miller | 2024 Fall |
| Iddriss Iddriss | 2024 Spring |
| James Bildstein | 2024 Summer |
| Leland Brigham | 2024 Fall |
| Marco Grotti | 2024 Fall |
| Matt Hamilton | 2024 Fall |
| Quenton Chi | 2024 Fall |
| Quinn McLaughlin | 2024 Summer, Fall |
Serie B (min 2 goals)
(Note: If there are more than three divisions, multiple divisions will be combined for the purpose of this list. For instance, the lowest two divisions may be collectively construed as “C” and the middle two divisions may be collectively construed as “B”).
| Player Name | Season |
| Andrew Jaffe | 2024 Fall |
| Evan Zippert | 2024 Spring |
| Spencer Williams | 2024 Summer |
| Stephen Welsh | 2024 Summer |
| Quenton Chi | 2024 Spring |
| Quinton Brewster | 2024 Fall |
| Tony Gollopeni | 2024 Fall |
| Tyler Chilton | 2024 Fall |
Serie C and below (min 3 goals)
(Note: If there are more than three divisions, multiple divisions will be combined for the purpose of this list. For instance, the lowest two divisions may be collectively construed as “C” and the middle two divisions may be collectively construed as “B”).
| Player Name | Season |
| Abram Sanchez | 2024 Spring |
| Chris Aquino | 2024 Summer |
| David Hamou | 2024 Summer |
| Declan Wilson | 2024 Summer |
| Francisco Castillo | 2024 Summer |
| Ibrahim Hassan | 2024 Spring, Summer, Fall |
| John Rybak | 2024 Spring |
| Luke Richardson | 2024 Spring |
| Max Herman | 2024 Fall |
| Quinton Brewster | 2024 Spring, Summer |
| Randall Medina | 2024 Summer |
| Ray King | 2024 Fall |
| Roy Shin | 2024 Fall |
| Sean Barwick | 2024 Summer |
| Steve Cevallos | 2024 Fall |
| Tony Gollopeni | 2024 Summer |
ºnon-roster player
Rationale for Prohibiting Certain “Other Players”
As more teams join each season, the League has been able to split teams into divisions, which is intended to increase parity among the teams in the division and in the League. However, as additional divisions have been needed and as skill levels grow increasingly disparate, some non-roster players have had a greater than intended impact on the outcome of some games.
It would be largely impractical to impose a blanket prohibition of players from higher divisions from filling in for teams in lower divisions where the lower division game immediately follows the higher division game. In most instances, there are few players who are “picked up” from a prior game because the team is low on players. Furthermore, the players picked up may not have a material impact on a game and there are provisions in place (see above) to prevent top scorers from coming into a lower division game and affecting it. However, in some cases, there is a significant disparity between players particularly (as has been the case in the past) when, for example, Serie A players fill in for Serie C teams. Even 1-2 players who may not be a “top scorer” can come in and materially impact the outcome of a game. This is generally not fair to the team who was affected by those players, nor is it necessarily an accurate representation by the team that utilized those players.
ºNon-roster player; however, subject to the same rules as roster players.
*The League recognizes that female players (and goalkeepers) may have an impact on games as well. However, given the considerable and consistent difficulty teams face to find female non-roster Players (as compared to male non-roster Players), a decision has be made to place the restriction on male players only.
**This rule was determined based on feedback from team Captains and was selected over a rule that would cause both the team for which the Prohibited Player played and the Prohibited Player’s team to forfeit their games. While considered by the League, a determination was made that imposing forfeits on teams in this way would be an overly harsh penalty and not in the best interests of the League, its teams, or its Players. Should a Prohibited Player play in violation of the rule that imposes a reasonable restriction, the penalty will at least operate to mitigate that Player’s direct impact on the game.
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