North Indoor Soccer - Rules/Refereeing

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NIS Rules

There are no "official" indoor soccer rules so every indoor league can have different rules. Many leagues simply copy the rules of other leagues and give little thought to whether the rules really are the best for the indoor game. We have spent 20 years perfecting our rules to make sure that the play is safe and that we encourage a skill game versus a physical game.

Discouraging Physical Play

Since we run coed leagues, we cannot allow physical play to dominate. It simply would not be a fair match between a larger guys and smaller gals. In addition, there were two factors present in indoor soccer that is not present in outdoor soccer: boards around the field and turf that lies on a concrete floor. Both factors present risks to players that have to be accounted for.

Play Around the Boards

The referees are instructed to call a foul on any player who creates a dangerous situation around the boards. This means that a play along the boards could be a foul even though the same play in the center of the field would not result in a foul.

An example of this would be a defender who is shoulder-to-shoulder with the offensive player and "rides" the offensive player into the boards. This creates the possibility of crashing into the boards which is a danger to both players. If this play occurred in the

Download 2017 NIS Rules

middle of the field there would be no foul but, in this case, a foul would be called on the defender since the defender is creating a dangerous situation. We do not want our referees to be afraid to call these fouls to discourage unsafe plays along the boards so we encourage them to call the penalty and go with their gut on who caused the safety issue. We would rather them to make the wrong call than to not make the call at all.

We do not want our referees to be afraid to call these fouls to discourage unsafe plays along the boards so we encourage them to call the penalty and go with their gut on who caused the safety issue. We would rather them to make the wrong call than to not make the call at all.

Physical Play

We have players of all sizes as well as guys and gals playing in the same league. If we allow physical play to dominate, we end up with leagues that only cater to the biggest, strongest players. In addition, since the players are in a confined area there is much greater frequency for contact that there is on a large outdoor field. As a result, we do not allow the same level of physical play as in outdoor soccer.

Our rules are more similar to non-checking hockey. Intent is not as important as in outdoor soccer. A three minute penalty does not mean the player intended to foul a player. In other words, if you tripped a player your intention doesn't matter. If a referee believes a player guilty of intending to commit a foul, a five minute penalty will be called. A second five minute penalty will result in a game ejection. If a foul is flagrant a player can be immediately ejected. An example of this is fighting. Fighting is not tolerated. Swinging at another player is not tolerated.

Indoor soccer is very difficult to referee. While we don't want physical play, there is contact. Players fall. The game moves very quickly and decisions are made in the split second. In addition, the referee simply cannot see everything and often has a difficult angle to clearly see the play. Fans have the luxury to view the play from the balcony seating which gives a better very of the entire field and you don't have to run and keep up with the players. Where you as a fan are art a disadvantage is you have a rooting interest in one team that easily colors your view and the referees are much closer to the play and can often see things that you cannot.

We cannot promise that are referees are perfect - they are not. We can promise you that we want well refereed games, that the referees we use are experienced and are constantly reviewed. Referees that do a good job are rewarded with more games, referees that do not are let go. We are fortunate to have many referees that have refereed for us for many years. Steve Sexton, Jim Woods and Mark Monroe have been with us since the start of North Indoor Soccer in 1995!

Unfortunately, it is difficult to find good referees. Many good referees no longer referee because of the abuse they often face. Help us out and give our referees the respect they deserve, even when they make a call that you disagree with.

Think No Check Hockey Rules

People often have a hard time understanding the rules because they are thinking about outdoor rules or indoor rules from other leagues. If you want to compare our rules to something think of hockey rules without the checking. If you trip a player it is a penalty whether you intended to trip the player or not. If you have a serious foul you will receive a major penalty. If you fight, you will be thrown out of the game.

Referees

All referees must be familiar with the NIS Rules and pass an NIS Refereeing test.

All referees should attend the Refereeing Meeting in February at the Anoka Ice Arena (check the Calendar Page for the time and date of the meeting). After the meeting, you will be tested on the rules).

Our referees are assigned based upon their past performance. We reward referees for their reliability, skill and experience with our program. We have some referees that have been with us for over 15 years. We reward them for their loyalty to us and they reward us with excellent refereeing.

If you are new to the program we will try to schedule you with with experienced referees and/or low intensity games. While we have many experienced referees we always need new referees and you can begin to build you expereicne with us and if you are reliable and do a good job you will move up the priority list of referees and get more games.

One of the biggest problems we have with new referees is making sure that they enforce our rules. Our rules are different than outdoor rules and are different than other indoor leagues. We require that you enforce our rules, not other league rules. We have spent 20 years developing our rules to what they are today and there is a reason for each change that we have made. In addition, we want to make sure the rules are enfoced consistently through the leagues.

Referees are eviewed during the season. If you have questions or concerns we are always available and we stropngly support our referees.

Referee Complaints

If you have a referee complaint please contact the NIS Referee Coordinator or the NIS Soccer Director. Please have the following information:

The time and date of the game
The age level of the teams
The team numbers or colors of the two teams involved
A description of the referee concern or incident
A reference to the rule or rules that were misapplied

If you have not read the rules and do not know what the rules in questions is, do not make a complaint. Most of our complaints are dismissed becuase the person making the complaint did not know the rule and was mistaken.

The NIS is a ZERO TOLERANCE league. We will not tolerate abuse of our referees, players, coaches or fans. Remember, referees will make mistakes just like the players and coaches do. Indoor soccer is a fast paced game and there are many judgement calls. We strive to have quality referees and to help our referees improve the abilities. If a referee is struggling we want to know about it so that we can help them become a better referee. You can help us by learning the rules, letting us know if there is a problem and by not yelling at the referees!

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