AMSA Over 50 Division Rules & Guidelines 2022-23 Season

General Rules

Teams shall apply for placement in the Over 50 division through the normal registration process ahead of the 2022-23 season.

• The minimum age to be on an Over 50 roster for the upcoming 2022-23 season, unless grandfathered for the inaugural 2017-18 season, is 50 years old before 8/1/2023.
• Transfers:
  • Players aged 50 or older as of 7/31/2022 shall be able to move between teams within Over 50 divisions providing AMSA’s transfer rules are followed before or during the upcoming season
  • Players aged 49 as of 7/31/2022 who are currently on the roster of an existing O50 team or a team accepted into an Over 50 division for the upcoming season, shall be allowed to transfer to another Over 50 team before or during the season.
  • Players under the age of 49 as of 7/31/2022 who were ‘grandfathered’ in past seasons as part of an existing Over 40 squad shall NOT be allowed to transfer to another Over 50 team within the age group
• Rosters will be reviewed prior to the start of the season & monitored on a weekly basis throughout the season to ensure compliance & adherence to these rules.
• If there are enough teams for 2 divisions, the last placed team in Over 50P & the 1st placed team in Over 50A will be relegated & promoted respectively based upon final standings at the end of the 2022-23 season for the following season.

New Over 50 Team Selection Process

Should there be more new teams applying for Over 50 division(s) slots than are available based upon making the division(s) fair & balanced with an even number of teams, the Competition Committee [‘Committee’] will first consider the ‘Team Coefficient’ points of the submitted rosters for all new teams – each player on a submitted roster aged 49 as of 7/31/2022 scores 1pt. The total number of points per roster represents the ‘Team Coefficient’ & the available spot(s) will be assigned first to the team with the lowest ‘team coefficient’, then the next lowest & so on until all available spots are filled.

However, the Committee shall also assess each team application in accordance with the normal divisional alignment process, the flexible age-restricted rules [see Rule 1.3 and Rule 7.0], and AMSA’s objective of making the Over 50 divisions pure Over 50 as soon as possible. Therefore, irrespective of the ‘Team Coefficients’, the Committee reserves the right to assign new teams applying for an Over 50 division to other divisions if deemed to be in the best interest of both the Over 50 division & AMSA divisional alignment in general. Existing or accepted new teams may be assigned to either Premier or ‘A’ based on a review of their AMSA playing history & what’s determined as best for the Over 50 age bracket overall.

The Committee may also decide whether or not Over 50 divisions shall be formed with less or more than 10 teams and has the power to amend rules in ‘special situations’ if deemed necessary for the success of the age group.

Roster Rules:

• Teams that completed the 2019-20 season &/or the 2021 Spring season in the Over 50 division:

1. The rosters of current Over 50 teams as of the end of the Spring Round 2020 are ‘frozen’ for under-age players except for new players aged 49 by 7/31/2022 – in other words only players aged 49 or 50+ as of 7/31/2022 can be added to these rosters
2. The Committee may allow exceptions to the foregoing rule if a team is in imminent danger of ‘folding’ &/or it is deemed in the overall best interest of the division & age group.

• New teams:

1. New teams applying for a place in an Over 50 division for the upcoming season may include players that turn 49 yrs of age by 7/31/2022 [see Note below] on their roster. However, teams should understand that this may adversely affect their potential acceptance into the division in light of the ‘New Over 50 Team Selection process’ outlined above.
2. Unlike the inaugural Over 50 rules, existing AMSA teams WILL NOT be allowed to move as a ‘complete squad’ if some players on the roster do not meet the new age-requirement rule for the upcoming season unless the Competition Committee deem it in the overall best interest of the division & age group. 3. Rosters for new teams applying with dates of birth for all players must be submitted to the AMSA Administrator as early as possible & no later than the registration deadline.

Note: this age-restriction has been raised by 1 year each season since the inaugural formation of the Over 50 age group in 2017-18 per the recommendation of the AMSA Executive Committee in effort to gradually move the division towards ‘pure’ Over 50.

Final Note: The Competition Committee is reinstating the ‘maximum 3 goals’ counting towards overall ‘Goal Difference’ solely for the Over 50 division this season to discourage teams from ‘running up the score’.