Rules

General rules 7 a side

The rules below apply to all Football7s competitions, including leagues and tournaments. On the most part, our 7-a-side playing rules are the same as regulation 11-a-side rules with the following exceptions/modifications:

• Limited slide-tackling
  Should a referee deem your slide to be a player on player tackle, or feels your movement was dangerous in any way, you may be pulled up for a foul or penalised. We allow players to slide to intercept a pass, stop the ball from going out, or any other action where there are no other players immediately near the movement.

• • We strongly advise all players to wear shin pads and long socks
  • Kick-offs are indirect and can go either forward or backward
  • There are no offsides
  • The goalkeeper can’t drop-kick the ball directly from their hands
  • Proper throw-in rules apply
  • Goal-kicks must be taken from the ground, the ball must not be moving, and can be placed anywhere inside the penalty area
  • Opposition players must be at least 5m away from any free-kick
  • Start, half-time, and full-time will be signalled via the referee’s whistle (regardless of siren/hooter/clock)
  • The game starts and ends on the referee’s whistle
  • All Girls’ Teams
    These teams may play down an age grade in our leagues
• We’ll have a retreating line for the following restarts and players need to wait for the ball to be played before attacking (These will be indicated with discs on the floor)
  • Goal kicks
  • Start of a half or restart of play after a goal

Penalties

• All penalty kicks are taken from the top of the goal area directly in front of goal and 8m from the goal line or from the marked penalty spot (depending on venue)
• The goalkeeper must be on the line when the penalty is taken
• Strikers must wait for the referee’s whistle before proceeding to take the penalty

General rules 4 a side

• Kick-Offs are Indirect
  • The ball can be played forwards or backwards, but you cannot score directly from the kick-of
• Goals from the Attacking Half Only
  • A goal only counts if scored from the attacking half.
  • If a player scores from their own half, the goal does not count and the opposition restarts with a goal kick.
• All Free Kicks are Direct
  • Players can score directly from any free kick.
  • Opposition players should be around 5m away.
• No Offsides
• No Goal-Tending
  • Players should not stand in front of the goal for the entire game.
• Kick-Ins (Not Throw-Ins)
  • From the sideline, the ball is kicked in, not thrown.
  • You cannot score directly from a kick-in.
    • If a goal is scored the oppostion restarts with a goal kick
• Corners are played as normal
• Goal Kicks (Taken approximately 2–3 metres in front of the goal)

Opposing players must stand at the half way point of the fields (indicated by different coloured cones for goal kicks)

Penalty Kicks
Avoided where possible, but may be awarded for serious infringements (e.g. handball in front of goal).

The penalty is taken from the centre of the field, approximately 10 steps from the goal, as a free shot.