For those that don't do comments too much, here is the link to the current differences between the three sets of rules. I have not looked over all of the differences so I won't comment but I did want to thank the 2-3 of you that read my post and sent me an email almost immediately. I did not think I had that level of a following!
https://www.nfhs.org/media/1018270/2017_soccer_guide_-interscholastic_revised.pdf
Another interesting thing from this weekend was the snow we had on Saturday evening. I had 3 matches and at the start of my center which was kicking off around 2, it was coming down nicely on the turf field. By the end of that match, the field was more white than green and it was coming down hard. To the point that I had to shield my eyes when running down the pitch.
When we were about 10 minutes from kick off for the 4pm match, it looked like there was a good couple of inches of snow and the lines were gone. No 18, no touch lines. We had to put down cones and discs to see where the midfield was and where the top of the box was for each side. I went to talk to the tournament director and said that the fields were unplayable. To which I was told that it was not my call. And yes, to a point, it is not, until it is, you see. Unfortunately the center for that match was more accommodating than I would have been and played the match in full.
The field right next to ours ended their match at halftime of the 4pm kick off. And the field behind us actually played their 6pm match as well (while the other 2 fields's matches were cancelled). Go figure.
Still, not your everyday field conditions. Players were going in hard as it was a showcase tournament but they really couldn't showcase much. I had to send off one player in my match who slid so hard that had he made contact with the person with the ball in earnest, he would have broken a foot or leg (and the perp was already on a yellow).
After the match he came to me and insisted that he got all ball. I didn't agree completely. He did get ball, but got leg in there as well and I did mention that I always want them to control the body and that he played in a manner that could have caused injury given the conditions. But the truth of the matter was that regardless, the game should not have been played, because it was on a field that was already somewhat dangerous, or was getting there quickly. And yes, I could have stopped play at any moment when I felt it was unsafe. It didn't really feel like that until we were ready to kick off the next match when I came to the conclusion that it was ok to finish the match but the field was not ok to start a whole new match. No one got hurt but I did call the assignor and said that in my book the 4pm games were being held on a field that was not playable. He suggested that we talk to the coaches and see if they were ok (and unfortunately, they were).
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