How many players do we need?

A complete starting lineup consists of 7 players; 6 players on the field including a minimum of 2 women and 1 man, and 1 goalkeeper.  A team may play with an incomplete starting lineup of as few as 5 players provided there is at minimum 1 woman and 1 man on the field and 1 goalkeeper.  A team with less than 5 players or without the minimum 1 woman and 1 man required, will be considered a team in default.

Most teams in these leagues have between 8-12 people on their roster including subs.

Can we use subs?

Of course! The only requirement is that subs have 1) an Urban Rec member profile, and 2) they have indicated that they have read the online waiver for the current calendar year. It is recommended that team captains add any subs that might be used during the season to the team roster. Note that to be eligible for playoffs, a player should have played at least 2 regular season games for the team.

ALL PLAYERS MUST HAVE AN URBAN REC PROFILE AND INDICATE THAT THEY HAVE READ THE ONLINE WAIVER FOR THE CURRENT CALENDAR YEAR.

Is sliding or slide tackling allowed?:

There is ZERO tolerance for sliding and slide tackling in our soccer leagues.

We define sliding/slide tackling as ‘if you leave your feet, you must land back on your feet’. If you are not able to land back on your feet, then we consider this to be a ‘slide’. This means no bicycle kicks, no slides to save a ball from going out, no sliding to kick a ball, and no slide tackles. Lunging and having a knee touch the turf would also be considered a ‘slide’, as you are not landing back on your feet. It does not matter if a ‘slide’ occurs and there are no other players around, ‘sliding’ is not permitted at any time.

Goalkeepers are allowed to “slide” or dive in an attempt to make a save off of a shot BUT they must do this parallel to the goal line/net and are not allowed to “slide” or dive toward an opposing player in an attempt to gain possession of the ball.

Sliding incidents represent one of the most significant risks that exists in soccer. We are a purely recreational soccer environment, with a focus on safe fun play and as such we simply cannot allow plays that have significant risk of injury exist in our leagues. Any player who commits a ‘slide’ will be removed from the game for at least 5 minutes. Any other player on that same team who commits a second ‘slide’ infraction (regardless of if they are the same player or a different player) will be sent off for the remainder of the game.

Do you play with offsides?

We no longer call offsides in our soccer leagues as they would be called in a traditional soccer environment. That said, this does not mean that we condone ‘cherry picking’ as a strategy or tactic from teams to gain a competitive advantage. Our goal is to maintain the integrity of the beautiful game without having arguments and debates over close offside plays throughout a match. We consider ‘cherry picking’ to be unsportsmanlike, and against ‘the spirit of the game’ we are trying to provide.

Some examples of what we would consider to be ok, and what we consider to be against the spirit of the rule are below:

• If a player drifts into an ‘offside’ position during the course of a play (ex. In the act of trying to receive a pass), this is allowable. This ‘drift’ should occur as a natural continuation of the play, where the offensive player starts in an onside position and may end up past the defender before the ball is played.
  • This player SHOULD NOT start sprinting past the defender to an ‘offside’ position when their team has possession of the ball – this would be considered ‘cherry picking’
• If a player is intentionally starting in an ‘offside’ position while waiting for a play to develop, this is considered ‘cherry picking’.
  • If the player were to play the ball subsequent to having intentionally positioned themselves in an offside position, our staff should blow this play down and award possession to the defending team.
• If a player is caught up the field after a play has transitioned and is slow in getting back or has not returned to an onside position, and the ball is subsequently turned over and played to them, this would also be considered ‘cherry picking’ and we would expect the player coming back to not play the ball, and grant possession to the defending team.
  • If they were to play the ball, our staff should blow this play down and award possession to the defending team.

To avoid unnecessary confrontation between teams, we do not allow a team to call a player out for being ‘offside’ or ‘cherry picking’, however if you do notice this and our staff is not addressing, please have your captain bring this to our staff’s attention to watch for and address with the other team.

Is it a non-contact league?

Our soccer leagues are non-contact leagues. We do understand that throughout the course of the game, there will be instances of incidental contact, however intentionally initiating contact is not acceptable.

We want to stress that it is the responsibility of the defending players (without possession of the ball) to be responsible for both their own safety and the player in possession of the ball’s safety. They should not initiate any physical contact with the player in possession. The defending players need to be in control of their physicality, and only be making a play on the ball. If they make contact while attempting to make a play on the ball (accidental or otherwise), they should expect that contact to result in a foul being called.

Conversely, there is also a responsibility of a player with possession of the ball to not attack defenders with their physicality or initiate contact as well. Attempting to ‘run through’ a player in a good defensive position or using their arms or body to initiate contact to create an advantage is not acceptable. Again, they should expect that contact to result in a foul being called.

If two players are chasing a ball, we expect both players to stay in their lanes and NOT lean into each other to initiate contact. This type of contact often leads to both players becoming entangled which can result in the type of physical contact that puts each player at risk of injury and as such should be avoided.

What are the expectations my team should have regarding sportsmanship/trash talking?

Urban Rec soccer is a recreational league that stresses sportsmanship and fun above all other aspects of the sports experience. It is a time to be sharing a good time with your friends and getting some exercise!

“Trash Talk” or choosing to engage in an argument is a show of poor sportsmanship and often leads to the escalation of a negativity that we do not wish to be a part of the experience at Urban Rec. 

If you do hear any comments that you feel are reflective of poor sportsmanship, please bring this to our staff’s attention so they can be proactive in dealing with the situation.

How do I indicate that I have read the online waiver?

The waiver is updated for each calendar year, and if you are already an Urban Rec member (which is required for all UR participants), the first time you go to log-in to www.urbanrec.ca in a calendar year, you will be prompted to indicate that you have read the waiver. If you are not an Urban Rec member, you will be required to create a profile in order to participate (you can do this by clicking on JOIN in the upper right corner of the webpage at www.urbanrec.ca, and during this process, you will be prompted to indicate that you have read the online waiver.

What size field do we play on?

Urban Rec soccer plays 7-aside, so games are played on fields that are just under half the size of a regular full soccer field (in most cases, two Urban Rec soccer games are played simultaneously on a full soccer field, with one game on each half played width-wise across the field).

Do you offer men’s or women’s leagues in addition to coed leagues?

At the present time, Urban Rec focuses on providing recreational coed leagues, as there are other providers of men’s and women’s leagues for those players who wish to play in that format.

My team is winning (or losing) all our games. Will we be reseeded?

We do try our best to place teams into divisions initially with other similarly-skilled teams, but differences in skill level can become apparent over the course of the season. With this in mind, we do look at reseeding teams once or twice during the season, with the first time being after about the 4th or 5th week of play to ensure that we have an accurate size of results to determine a team’s skill level relative to the other teams in the league (reseeding after only 1 or 2 games is generally hugely inaccurate as it does not give a true measure of a team’s relative skill level). That being said, we will not reseed just for the sake of reseeding; moving a team up means moving a team down (and vice versa), and we try to ensure as best we can that the team we are moving up (or down) is a better fit in that new division than the team we are replacing them with.

How do I see my schedule?

There are two requirements in order to see the schedule for your league: 1) you must have an Urban Rec profile (you can do this by clicking on JOIN in the upper right-hand corner of the screen at www.urbanrec.ca) and 2) you must be added to a team roster by your team captain.

NOTE- the team captain must add you to the team roster using the same email address that you use for your Urban Rec profile. If both of the above requirements have been met, then please follow these steps to see your schedule:

1. Sign-in to www.urbanrec.ca
2. Click on MEMBERS in the upper right-hand corner
3. Click on DASHBOARD. You will be taken  to a page that shows all your teams with Urban Rec for about the past year (the ones that you have been added to the roster using the same email address you are logged into the site with).
4. Click on SCHEDULE for the team that you are looking for.

NOTE- if you are not on a team roster for the current season, you will NOT be able to access the schedule (if this is the case, check with your team captain to ensure that they have added you to the roster with the correct email address).