Question:
Where would I find a printed citation which requires a referee to follow the administrative rules of the organization. association, tournament etc which employees him? This question is not intended to apply to acceptable alterations top the Laws of the game as allowed by FIFA.This question is asked for the sole purpose of locating a citiation which would (or would not) require a referee, working an organization. association, tournament game, to only allow players who are listed on a roster which has been validated by said organization. association, tournament administrative official to participate in the match.
This is opposed to the ref just accepting a roster which was not validated for organization. association, tournament play allowing those players listed to partuicipate.
I am hoping this is not a “Law 18” answer
USSF answer (April 26, 2007):
By accepting the assignment to a game in a competition, the referee agrees to accept the rules of that competition governing play and players. Rules such as you cite are fairly common for cup and tournament play, and it would be hard to find a good argument against them.
We have included this information in the USSF publication “Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game”:
3.14 PLAYER ELIGIBILITY AND THE REFEREE
The criteria for registering players in a league and/or for determining if a player is permitted to participate in any given match are set by the competition authority and may not be modified by the referee. The competition authority may require that the referee check rosters, player passes, and similar documentation as a prerequisite for allowing a player to participate in a match. Where the validity of any player’s documentation or right to participate in the match is or becomes a matter of dispute between the two sides, with no resolution, the referee must allow the player to participate and to include all details in the match report. (An example would be the case where one team says that the opposing player has been suspended and is not eligible to play in this game, but the player’s team disputes this.)
If there is an obvious discrepancy between the player documentation and the player in question, and the referee can verify that the player and the documentation do not match one another, the player will not play. The referee will retain the documentation and forward it to the competition authority with the match report. In the absence of an obvious discrepancy or fabrication of player credentials, the issue must be decided in favor of allowing the player to participate in the match, with full details included in the match report.
