Competition

The South Jersey Cup (“SJ Cup”) is being offered to boys’ and girls’ teams and only open to teams registered to play in the SJGSL and SJSL leagues in the U10 to HS age brackets.

Registration

All teams may register for the SJ Cup by applying online using the applicable registration link available on the SJGSL website.

Only teams that register and play all of their assigned games (as defined by their league) in their respective league for the Fall season are eligible to participate in the SJ Cup. Teams that withdraw from league play during the Fall season will not be eligible to continue in the Cup.

The registration fee is $50.00.

Registration will close, and the registration fee is due, on the date set by the SJGSL league for the Fall season. Late registrations may be accepted on a case-by-case basis as needed to fill flights for the competition. A late fee may be assessed.

Format

Teams will be placed into groups of 3 or 4 teams based on their league flights and will play each team in their cup flight once. For example, groups might be organized by league flights 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, etc. All qualifying round games must be played by a date set by the Cup Committee.

Rosters

All teams must enter a roster in the SJ Cup event in GotSport. All rostered SJ CUP players must be registered within their own home club and be a rostered player in that club in the Fall SJGSL/SJSL season of the current cup year. A player may not be rostered on multiple SJ Cup Teams. All players must present an authorized player pass with the appropriate league logo.

Roster sizes must comply with SJGSL/SJSL leagues rules as applicable.

All rosters will be frozen on a date set by the Cup Committee. No players may be added to the Cup roster after this date. This roster will also be used for the Spring Semi-final and Final games.

Referees

All referees will be assigned by the applicable league. There may be 1-3 assigned referees per game. The referee fee will be the same as the league ref fees and will be paid by the respective teams for all qualifying games and the Semi-Final round of games, as provided in the regular league rules.

Rules

All Cup games will follow the same game rules as the applicable SJGSL League games, except as provided in these Rules of Competition.

There will be no Club Pass players permitted to play in Cup games. Game Day Rosters must be printed using the Cup rosters.

Scheduling Games

For the preliminary qualifying games, all teams will self-schedule their own games. Home and away teams will be as designated in Got Sport; however, if the teams agree, they may switch.

It is recommended that teams use the Chat feature in Got Sport to communicate with their opponent to schedule and confirm game dates, times, and locations.

After agreeing on the details of the game, the home team will schedule the game in Got Sport. The league will then enter the game into Arbiter which will allow referees to be assigned for the games.

Teams must schedule the Cup Game Schedule at least seven (7) days prior to the requested game date to allow time to assign referees to the game. Game requests submitted without the 7-day lead time risk not getting referees assigned to the games.

It is recommended that Cup games be scheduled to be played before the first or after the last SJGSL/SJSL regularly scheduled league game on the weekend. League games take precedence over Cup games with respect to scheduling. Games may also be scheduled at any time during the week or at night.

Teams may agree to use a regularly scheduled league game between the same opponents as a proposed Cup matchup to satisfy their qualifying game matches.

Teams must seek approval from the Cup Committee prior to making any changes (field, time etc.) after the game is put into Arbiter.

The Cup Committee reserves the right to make the following changes in the event of inclement weather: relocate and/or reschedule a match; reduce the scheduled duration of a match; change flight structure; cancel a match and cancel any or all games.

Forfeits

Any team forfeiting a game is disqualified from moving on to the Semi-final round of games.

A team forfeiting a game greater than 48 hours prior to the scheduled game time may be sanctioned at the discretion of the Cup Committee.

Any team forfeiting a game with less than 48 hours’ notice prior to the scheduled game time will be sanctioned the full amount of the referee game fees for that game. A team that fails to appear at a properly scheduled game with no notice of where the opposing team does appear, will be sanctioned for the referee fees as noted above, and may be barred from competing in the Cup the following year.

Withdrawing Teams

Any team which withdraws from the Cup after the team brackets are announced may be sanctioned at the discretion of the Cup Committee up to $100.

Any team which withdraws from the Cup after playing one or more of the games in the qualifying round may be sanctioned at the discretion of the Cup Committee up to $100 per game.

Any team which withdraws from the Semi-final or Final round of games may be sanctioned at the discretion of the Cup Committee up to $200 and may be barred from competing in the Cup the following year. If a team withdraws, the Cup Committee will determine which team will be eligible to move up to play in their place.

Determination of Winners

For the qualifying round of games:

• Win = 3 points
• Tie = 1 point
• Loss = 0 points

Tie breakers are determined by (in order): (1) Head-to-head; (2) Most Wins; (3) Fewest goals against; (4) Best goal differential; (5) Most shutouts; and (6) Coin toss.

Score Entry

The winning team will enter the official score of the game. A tutorial for how to enter scores in GotSport as a Coach or Manager can be found HERE.

Spring League Participation

Teams moving on to the Semi-finals and Finals are not required to also register to play in their respective SJSL/SJGSL for the Spring season, although it is preferred. Their Cup roster that was frozen during the Fall season will remain controlling. Player releases, as indicated below, may affect their ability to field a team.

Players released from their team’s Fall roster, but not released from the team and/or that club’s primary pool are still eligible to participate in the Semi-finals and Finals for their original team using their original player’s pass. They may not play for their new team if it happens to also qualify for the Semi-finals and Finals.

Players released from their team’s Fall roster and released from the team and/or that club’s primary pool to play for another club are not eligible to participate in the Semi-finals or Finals even if their original team qualifies.

Discipline

All participating teams will follow the yellow and red card restrictions and rules applicable to SJGSL. Fines and suspensions will follow the regular, applicable league guidelines. The receipt for yellow or red cards will not carry over to league play, except as recommended by the Cup Committee on a case-by-case basis.

Game suspensions assessed by SJSL/SJGSL for league play will not be satisfied by or carried over to Cup games, unless jointly agreed to by the respective league Executive Board and the Cup Committee.

Game suspensions assessed by the Cup Committee will not be satisfied by or carried over to league games, unless jointly agreed to by the respective league Executive Board and the Cup Committee.

Foul and abusive behavior or language will carry a fine of $200.00.

Game Protests

All game protests must be directed to the Cup Committee within 24 hours of the scheduled start time of the game in question. The Cup Chairman will not sit as part of the Committee addressing that protest.

Any appeals of the Committee’s decision must be made to the Cup Chairman within 24 hours of the aggrieved party’s receipt of the Committee’s decision. The Chairman’s review and decision will be final and not reviewable by the respective league or league Executive Board.

Semi-final and Final Games

The following additional rules will apply to the games played during the Semi-final and Final Games.

Rosters

All Cup rosters will remain frozen. Only players who appear on your final frozen roster from the Fall qualifying games are eligible to play in a semi-final or final cup game. This means no new or transfer player may play in a Cup game, even if properly added to your team for the league Spring season, unless they were added prior to roster being frozen. The Cup committee will be comparing the semi-final and final GDRs with previous frozen Fall GDRs to ensure roster compliance.

Schedule

The Cup committee will schedule all games for the Semi-finals and Finals using fields donated by host clubs. The clubs were chosen for central locations and availability of field space. This may result in the location qualifying as an away location for both teams. One team will still be designated as the home team for game purposes. The date and time of all such games will be provided to all participating teams no later than July 1st, and the location no later than January 20th, to give teams plenty of notice as to where and when the games will be played.

Referees

The Cup Committee will assign the referees and pay all of the referee fees for the Final round of Cup games.

Game Rules

This continuing round(s) of games will follow the rules as outlined above. In addition, if a game is tied at the end of regulation, teams will play overtime. Overtime will consist of 2, 5-minute periods to completion (aka, NO Golden Goal). It does not matter if a team scores during overtime, the two periods must be played.

If the game is still tied after the two overtime periods, the teams will participate in Kicks from the Mark according to FIFA regulations.

Game Photos

By participating in the Semi-final and/or Final round of games, all participants agree to allow any photos taken by the league, or on behalf of the league, during those matches to be posted on the respective league websites and/or used in promotional materials.

All teams participating in the Final round of games will take a team photo after the completion of the match and agree to allow any photos taken by the league, or on behalf of the league, to be posted on the SJGSL league website and/or used in promotional materials.