Forfeits from insufficent numbers of players

[steveindc]

A few of us yesterday before the Blue Balls - Flame On game were talking about this problem, how some teams are forced to take the loss because some of their team members fail to show. We were thinking about some alternative methods to use rather than force the team to take the loss as a means to get the teams actually on the field for meaningful games (via substitution or having a secondary team bench or something like that).

There just has to be a better way to do this so that teams actually get to play rather than go with the obligatory forfeit. Any ideas (I know this crowd is never shy about sharing opinions)?

[Scottyg]

I BELIEVE that there is a rule allowing for a team to pull in WAKA registered players to make the bare minimum number of players/guys/girls to play. I know that it cant be used in playoffs, but I think it can be done regular season. I await Erin and Taylor's responses.

[Rodeo Jock]

I read through the rules and the only thing I saw last weekend was that all players must be registered in WAKA. There are no rules about substitutions or what happens if you lose players throughout the season.

For me, the concern wasn't so much if once in a while a game had to be forfeited, but if it became a regular thing (like for the BBalls) where they permanently lost team members over the course of the season. I mean, WE lost two players due to changes in life status, and it hurts that there isn't a lot we can do about it to make up for the loss.

[aspey]

Rule 7.0.5:
A team playing a non-registered person, an improperly registered person, or a person not registered on that team, division, and season, will forfeit the game.

So yes, the official line is that they must be registered on your team to be eligible.

Unofficially, if your team has people that never showed to a game or only showed to the first, it may be possible to work out a permanent roster change with someone else who is registered with WAKA (for insurance purposes).

That being said, there's a reason you can roster 26 people and that WAKA recommends at least 18. Occasional forfeits do happen, but it should never be a chronic problem. BlueBalls was unfortunate in that they never had a "captain" to begin with this season (they're a collection of separately registered small groups), so things were off even from the start.