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| Josh Gowling Is Reported To Be A Contract Player At Edgar Street |
Whilst the article was written from an Altrincham prospective, it gives an explanation of some of the terms used.
A non-contract player has no long-term commitment to a club, nor does the club have a commitment to the player. Under FA rules therefore if another club wanted to speak to a non-contract player about the possibility of moving clubs, they are required to give 7 days notice of approach to the club holding his registration. At the end of this 7-day period the player is free to move clubs. The most recent example of this for the Robins was FC United approaching us to sign Tom Peers.
If we were to sign a non-contract player from another club, before he could play in the National League we would have to complete a league registration form, which must be received and recorded by the League by 5:00pm on a Friday or and 4 hours before kick-off for a midweek fixture for a player to be eligible to play in the next game.
CONTRACT PLAYERS
Altrincham FC must register all contracts made between the club and their players with the Football Association, along with an FA registration form and a declaration as to whether intermediaries (for example an agent) has been used by either or both parties. The time frames for registering a player are the same as those for non-contract player and confirmation must be received from the FA and the League that everything is in order before the player is eligible to play.
INTERNATIONAL CLEARANCE
Any player over the age of 10 (!) who has played affiliated football outside of England requires International Clearance before they can play in England. Failure to do so can lead to the imposition of severe penalties. Of course, we know this only too well, and to our cost – James Robinson was signed from Accrington Stanley (1968) who had not obtained international clearance from Iceland where he had played in the summer. This omission was discovered by the FA when the player received a caution. As a consequence of this oversight by the Lancashire club, Alty received an 18 point deduction and would have been relegated from the National League National Division if not for issues at Canvey Island and Scarborough. At National League North level, requests for clearance are made to the English FA. They then approach the FA of the country where the player last played, who in turn approach his former club. If no issues are uncovered, then the process operates in reverse from club to country FA to English FA to Altrincham FC. This can take some time, as we have discovered over the last two seasons when signing players who have been playing in Wales previously.
For juniors there is an even more complicated process, proof is required the parents are living in England, and in employment. We experienced a situation where a BTec Student from Cyprus was living locally with a family friend but because his parents remained in Cyprus he was not allowed to play any football until he tuned 18 and became an adult.
LOANS
Contracted adult (over 18) players can be loaned to clubs in the same or different leagues. Loans can be either short or long term. A short loan must be for a minimum of 28 days but from this season can be extended indefinitely. Prior to this season a player on a short loan was restricted to 93 days in a season per club. After the initial 28 days a player can be recalled by his parent club.
Long term loans can be for a full playing season, or from any date prior to 31st August to any date in January, or from any date in January to the end of the playing season. A player on a long-term loan cannot be recalled -with the exception that the parent club are permanently transferring him elsewhere. A club are allowed 12 short loans and 6 long loans in a season.
There is also a youth loan system for players under 18 and this is the arrangement used for Owen Dale. There is no limit to the length of the loan but whilst on loan a player can play non first team games for his parent club.
DISCIPLINE
All our disciplinary offences, with the exception of the Cheshire Senior Cup are dealt with by the English Football Association. The procedures have changed for this season and there is now a regime in place known as Competition Specific Sanctioning for yellow cards. Before this season all cautions were added together, irrespective of the competition.
From this season the system treats each competition on an individual basis, so the Vanarama National League North, the Emirates FA Cup, the Buildbase FA Trophy and the Cheshire Senior Cup each have their own booking tallies
In league games if a player receives 5 cautions by 30th November, he receives a 1 match suspension which is served in the next match 7 or more days after receiving his 5th caution. We have had two players fall foul of this rule this season - can you guess who?!
If a player receives 10 cautions by the second Sunday in March, this will lead to a 2-match ban and if a player tots up 15 cautions in the season, he will be suspended for three games. In the FA Cup and FA Trophy cautions are totted up on a competition basis and 2 cautions result in a 1 match suspension. There are, however, cut off points when the slate is wiped clean - for the FA Cup these fall after the 3rd qualifying round and again after the quarter finals. Not much chance of these applying for a National League team, therefore.
County Cup games are, for disciplinary purposes, not regarded as first team games and any sanction incurred is not included in the above regime but is dealt with separately by the Cheshire Football Association.
Red cards carry across all competitions and therefore a sending off in the FA Trophy for example will lead to a sanction that applies to League games . The suspensions for red card offences are as follows:-
Receiving a second caution - 1 game
Denying a goal or an obvious goal scoring opportunity - 1 game
Using offence language or gestures - 2 games
Violent conduct or serious foul play - 3 games
Spitting - 6 games