PLAYERS CODE OF CONDUCT

1.     Play by the rules & understand the spirit of the game.

2.     Play to win and never set out to lose.

3.     Play fair to earn respect and detest cheats.

4.     Refrain from sexual harassment towards fellow players, coaches & officials.

5.     Never argue with an official, captain or manager who there to maintain discipline & fair play.

6.     Control your temper & avoid verbal abuse, sledging or deliberately distracting or provoking an opponent.

7.     Be honest with the coach concerning illness or injury.

8.     Work equally hard for yourself and/or your team.

9.     Be a good sport & applaud all good plays.

10.   Accept defeat with dignity & don’t seek excuses for defeat or blame the referee or anybody else.

11.   Promote the interests of football & encourage other people to watch it or play it fairly.

12.   Treat all participants equally & reject corruption, drugs, racism, violence & other dangers to our sport.

13.   Help others to resist corrupting pressures & remind them of their commitment to their team & the game.

14.   Co-operate with your coach, team-mates & opponents.

15.   Participate for your own enjoyment & benefit.

16.   Respect the rights, dignity & the worth of all participants, coaches & officials.

17.   Denounce those who attempt to discredit our sport.

18.   Honour those who defend football’s good reputation with honesty & fairness & encourage others to act in the same way.

 ABOVE ALL, ENJOY  YOUR FOOTBALL AT ALL TIMES  “THE WORLD GAME”

REGISTRATION (All Age Groups)

Players must be registered with the club before training or playing in any age group or at any level. It is the manager's and coach's responsibility to ensure that all players are registered with the Manly Vale Football Club Inc. and all registration fees and insurance are paid. Unfortunately accidents do sometimes happen and insurance will not cover an unregistered player. Please ensure that you obtain a copy of the leaflet regarding insurance when you register, or from your team manager. It is important that you are aware of the insurance conditions and cover before you start playing. All registration fees charged by the Manly Vale Football Club include insurance of approximately $10 for sub-juniors and juniors and $60 for seniors.  

MATCH INFORMATION

LENGTH OF GAMES:

Sub-juniors      

U6 and U7                     15 minutes each way
U8 and U9                     20 minutes each way

Juniors                         

U10, U11 and U12      25 minutes each way
U13 and U14                30 minutes each way
U14 Girls                       30 minutes each way       
U15 and U16                35 minutes each way
U16 Girls                       35 minutes each way

Seniors            

U18, Premier League, Amateur League and  Open Ladies    45 minutes each way

A break of five minutes is allowed between the halves of all games. In the event of games starting late the referees have the power to shorten the length of the games to ensure that they finish on schedule.

BALLS:

Each team will be given a match ball and training balls. The match ball must be taken to every game - the referee will decide which ball is to be used.

Sizes:      
U6 to U8                     Size 3       56-58cm circumference
U9 to U13                   Size 4       62-65cm circumference
U14 to U18                 Size 5       67-70cm circumference
Premier League         Size 5
Amateur League        Size 5
Open Ladies               Size 5        

GEAR

The club will provide a shirt for each player.

Maroon socks with double white stripe at the top and the standard club shorts should be worn by all players in the club. These will be available for purchase on registration days, and afterwards at the David Thomas canteen.

All players must wear shin pads. Spectacles may be worn if necessary, but must be those approved and are available at OPSM. I.D. card must be stamped by MWFA Official. Individual teams can secure new strips at any time with the assistance of any sponsorship they would like to arrange. Please contact the club’s Sponsorship Manager or President if you wish to arrange sponsorship.

 VENUES

At the back of this booklet is a list of all grounds used by the Manly Warringah Football Association. At the beginning of the season your manager or coach should give you a fixture list which will cover the whole of the season. Games will be played at the allotted grounds and at the scheduled times unless you are notified differently by your Coach or Manager. In the case of rained off games, these will usually be played on a designated wash-out weekend, but sub-junior wash out games are not replayed as these are non competitive.

 WET WEATHER PROCEDURE

If the weather has been mainly dry, there is no need to check, games will go ahead as scheduled.

If heavy rain has been falling during the week, you must check with the Warringah Wet Weather Line on 9981 2099 to see if David Thomas is open for training. If the council have called it out you must not use it under any circumstances.

If rain continues until the weekend some grounds may be available for use, and it is then up to the Manly Warringah Football Association to advise us whether the round will go ahead or not. If they decide to go ahead with the round even if some grounds are unplayable, your game may be postponed, or moved to another venue. In either case your coach or manager will advise.

In the event of all games being cancelled these may be rescheduled at a later date. The decision to cancel all games is made on a Friday night. Even if the weather improves dramatically over night, the cancellation still stands.

When games are played during inclement weather, it is the decision of the referee whether the game is played or not. He/she is the only one with the power to stop a game, if he/she thinks that it is unsafe to play because of ground conditions.

WET WEATHER LINES

In the case of wet weather, teams will be advised as to whether their games will be played or not. No grounds are to be used under any circumstances either for training or for playing games if the council have called them out. If in any doubt ring the following:

WARRINGAH     9981 2099

MANLY               9976 1565

PITTWATER      9970 1236

MOSMAN           9978 4136

REFEREEING

In all games, in the event of an official referee not being appointed, it is the home teams responsibility to provide a referee. A course of 1 - 2 hours for sub-junior referees is available prior to the season start. One parent should be selected as the referee for the team, and it is a good idea if one other parent attends the course as well. The coach should not be the team’s referee as his time should be used for coaching the players from the side line. Contact the Vice President – Sub-Juniors (Tom Miles) for details of these courses.

REFRESHMENTS

Fresh fruit is a good idea for half time, and it is important that players do not become dehydrated. All players should bring their own water bottles to the games, even in the cold weather. Sharing drink bottles is not a good idea.

TEAM OFFICIALS

Each team will have a coach and manager appointed. The MWFA this year requires each to wear an ID card indicating their official capacity with the team. These will be supplied by the club on completion of registration.

COACH

It is the coach's job to coach the team, his or her decision is final. Please parents, allow your coach to do the job without interference, especially with young players. It is too confusing for them to be trying to listen to their coach with parents yelling from the sideline telling them what to do as well. By all means applaud and encourage them but try not to interfere while they are playing.

MANAGER

The manager's job is to ensure that things run smoothly, and that all players are where they should be at the right time, and to organise rosters for bringing half-time refreshments and washing shirts. All shirts must be kept together at all times, do not allow individuals to take shirts home each week. They are easily misplaced or forgotten on the day. We find that is easiest for a family to take shirts home to wash and bring them back with oranges / other refreshments for the whole team at the following game.

Match procedure for U10 upwards

Ensure the players arrive at the ground at least 30 minutes before kickoff. This gives a bit of room for getting lost or running late.

Complete the team list on referees card ready for the away team to complete (if away, visa versa)

At the referee’s signal, check oppositions names on card with registration cards and all photographs. This is to determine eligibility of players to play in that particular game i.e. age - same or lower, division - same or lower

Give your registration cards to the opposition to check and then sign underneath the column listing the opposition team. If in doubt as to the eligibility of any listed player, print STA (Subject to Adjudication) and submit a written report to our Club Secretary.

At the end of the game sign the referees card to confirm the result. At the end of each game, home or away the match result and referees card (home games) must be put up on a board at David Thomas canteen. This is essential.

NEWSLETTERS

MWFA will email a link to their weekly newsletter (Soccerpost) to all registered players, and provide a link on their website to the competition results and tables website.

PARENTS' RESPONSIBILITIES

Please make sure that your children are at their games at the time specified by your coach or manager. It is also important that the players are at training on time and are picked up promptly. Your coach is a volunteer, and many have time off work to train and attend matches so please co-operate in this matter. In the case of sickness or holidays please let your coach or manager know as soon as possible if you are not able to attend any game. It may be possible to borrow players from other teams so that the team doesn't have to play short.

FUND-RAISING

We always endeavour to keep all fees to an absolute minimum and for this reason we ask for your support in any fund-raising activities that we may have during the season and support our club canteen at David Thomas. It may be by way of selling raffle tickets or chocolates or attending a function. Remember, all money raised goes straight to the club to help develop junior football in the area.

CANTEEN AND NET DUTY

During the season all sub-junior, junior and senior teams will be given one or two days of canteen, BBQ and net duties. This means that your team is responsible for putting up all nets at David Thomas at 7:30am and taking them down at the end of the day's play which is usually around 4.45pm. It also means that team is responsible for manning the canteen for the whole day, again from 8.00a.m. to 4.45p.m. This is the major fund-raiser for the club and your co-operation is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, for insurance reasons, no person under the age of 16 is allowed in the canteen.

Junior and senior teams will be responsible for nets of the main fields, and running the canteen.

Sub-junior teams will be responsible for nets on the mini fields and running the BBQ on Saturday mornings.

CLUB PROMOTION

Sponsorship of teams is invited by any interested parties. The cost of this varies per team per year, anyone wanting to sponsor the whole club may enquire about doing so with the Club Sponsorship/Promotions Manager, Leo Abbruzzo on 0404 040 731. Throughout the year club merchandise will be available from the canteen to help promote our club.

ADVICE ABOUT WINNING AND LOSING FOR COACHES, PARENTS AND PLAYERS OF ALL AGES:

Whether you are winning or losing, always keep trying.

Even the very best players can make mistakes, try and learn from them. Children's sport can be a war or a game. There are no losers if it is played in the right spirit.

Winning is watching kids laughing, learning and growing up but above all enjoying themselves.

It is probable that your child took up football for fun, mate-ship, maybe exercise and for the excitement of the contest.

Give your child all the help and support that you can, even if he/she is having difficulty learning the game and developing skills. Some children take time developing a competitive instinct and some never will.

Try not to criticise; offer advice and maybe show how to correct things that are not working out as well as you may like. Remember your child is an individual, and just because you played Premier League football in your younger days, it does not automatically follow that your child will do as well. It can take some children many years to develop good football skills, but remember that is not the be all and end all. Enjoyment of the game is of prime importance.

Please try not to be one of those parents who run up and down the sideline during a match yelling and screaming at your child and the team.

Remember who is coaching the team and leave them to do the job.

We look forward to hearing from you!