Chawton Athletic Club Charter

Chawton Athletic F.C.’s aims (hereinafter call “The Club”; is to provide Sunday Morning league football to its members.

RESPECT: The Players and Officials of The Club will at; all times; play with TOTAL respect for the Referee, lines persons and the players and officials of the opposition team. Games will finish with a shake of the hand for as many opposition players as deemed sensible AND the referee. He/She does it for fun, to enable us to play football and for minimal expense. Leave any personal disputes on the pitch.

Encouragement: Nobody plays to make mistakes; they play to be the best they can and to enjoy themselves. There will be times when mistakes are made but we must must try our best to encourage and not to criticize. If something needs to be said right there and then to rectify a problem ensure that you do it as positively as possible, remember nobody likes to feel as though they are being told off.

Ability: It is already apparent that we have a mix of abilities and experience throughout the squad.

Equipment: All players should remove all jewellery (not just tape it up) and shin pads should be worn at all times during the game. Players not adhering to these Football Association rules may find themselves unable to take part in the game.

Fines: Players found to be in breach of this RESPECT directive will be fined by the club (the amount dependent on the seriousness of the incident), all fines for disrespect will go to a charity of the clubs choosing, tba.

Additional Fines: There will be additional (joke) fines for various aspects of the game, these are purely fund raising fines (ie going back into the club) and will be used where deemed suitable.

Home Games: Matches kick off at 10:30am, players are therefore expected to arrive for home games at 9:45am, to ensure that nets are erected and pegged down correctly and that the flags are set out. Players are also expected to assist in the taking down of the nets and the collection of the flags after the games.

Away games: Players should endeavour to arrive at the meeting point no later than 9:15am. Football matches are strenuous and nervy affairs and require a calm collected approach, including a decent length stretching and warming up routine. Rushing straight into exercise will only cause injury.

Warm Ups and Cool Downs: Players should take it in turns to lead warm up and short warm down sessions. A regular routine of stretches should be established, though individuals may wish to do additional specific stretches. Warming down improves recovery time and fitness and prevents future injury.

Availabilities: All players should make sure that their availabilities for the following weekend are known by Tuesday evening. We still plan to meet on Tuesday’s at 7pm to do 4/5 a side and perhaps a little training. If you are unable to attend on a Tuesday please text your availabilities to Seth Lodge on 07786 530732.

Sponsorship and Fund Raising: Currently the team does not have a sponsor and therefore will require the financial assistance of its members. We will of course attempt to keep costs down as far as we can, but pitches and referees all cost money and so sometimes we will all have to put our hands in our pockets until a sponsor or funding can be found.

Selection Policy: The Club shall at all times endeavour to give everybody a fair game, no matter what the circumstances, but until a “Manager” has taken the responsibility of such matters, perhaps it should rest with a small selection committee and derived from those available as of Tuesday. There should be no exceptions to this rule, ie players only making themselves available after Tuesday night selection will start as a substitute, unless a player due to start subsequently becomes unavailable.

Running the line: Everybody needs to know how to run the line, everybody! The referee should instruct the person running the line at the start of the match, and if we swap over he/she may well come over during a break in play to re-issue his/her instructions.

Running the line basics:
· Remain impartial: If we lose because of something we lose because of something, that’s life.

· Remain as in line with the second to last man nearest the goal. The last man would normally be the goalkeeper, but occasionally a defender will go to the line behind a goalkeeper thus making the goalkeeper that man that holds the offside line etc.

· You should be positioned diagonally to the linesman on the opposite touchline and remain in your own half (generally referees will ask you to run the line for your own defence rather than the opposition’s.

· Remember, the player must be beyond the second to last man nearest your goal and in your half when the ball is played, the player must then either receive the ball or become “active” to be flagged as being offside.

· Flagging: If you need to flag for offside, you should stop in line with your second to last defender when the player became offside, the flag should be “cracked” then waved to attract the attention of the referee. Once you have attracted the referee’s attention you should indicate where on the pitch the player was when offside, (near to your touchline point the flag downwards, in the middle point the flag horizontally towards the middle of the pitch, far side point the flag upwards.

· Throw – ins and corners. Again remain impartial, indicate which way the throw is (throw-ins by pointing in the attacking direction of play for that side). Corners point to the corner flag, goal kicks point the flag horizontally to the goal.

· You cannot give (or be given) offside from a thrown in (unless it touches one of your players after it has been thrown, or a corner.

· Please, please try to keep up with play.

· Any further information can be obtained from football rule books at the library or online at http://www.fryclubfc.co.uk/loaf/laws_of_the_game.htm

Most important of all, please enjoy yourselves, if we are successful then all the better, but success may well come from patience and improvement and the desire to enjoy playing.