NorCal Incident Reporting

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Incidents

Type of Incident:Ethics
Date of Incident:2024-12-17
Time of Incident:09:00:00
Location of Incident:social media
Home Team:
Visiting Team:
Age Group and Gender:U11G
Team Affiliation of Individual Committing Incident:
Incident Summary:It is alleged the SF Elite is advertising a tryout outside the NorCal Premier Tryout Window.
Comments:To begin, establishing a framework is important.
Clubs are considered NorCal Clubs is they are admitted to NorCal Premier Soccer League and defined as Clubs. Clubs are subject to the rules of NorCal Premier Soccer as set forth in the Handbook and the decisions of the Board of Directors of NorCal Premier and the various committees that comprise the governing structure of NorCal Premier. All programs of a club (including MLS Next, Girls Academy and ECNL) are constrained by the rules of NorCal Premier with respect to Recruiting and other non-game functions of the Club.
Among the rules promulgated by the Board of NorCal Premier are the rules regarding tryouts and the Tryout Window. Recruiting Outside of the Tryout Window is defined by the NorCal Premier Handbook as "Outside the NorCal Tryout Window: "Recruiting" refers to making any contact or communication with a Player who is registered with another NorCal Club, in which the Player is asked or allowed to join a Club, attend a tryout or Club training session, or play or guest play for another Club, without first receiving permission from the Director of Coaching of the Player's Club." While NorCal Premier does not permit tryouts outside of the tryout window, Clubs as permitted to hold camps and clinics at any time throughout the year, subject to restrictions enacted by various RACs.
In the current situation, the questions posed to the NorCal PAD Committee is whether the events scheduled to be held by SF Elite are camps and clinics or tryouts outside of the window.
The PAD Committee determines that the events scheduled to be held by SF Elite are in fact tryouts outside of the window. The PAD Committee made this determination based on the following factors: (1) the events to be held by SF Elite are targeted to female players born in certain years, (2) the events to be held by SF Elite are limited to players of a higher level, (3) the events to be held by SF Elite are being provided free of charge, and (4) the events to be held by SF Elite specifically advertise the possibility of these players to play in the Girls Academy League.
The NorCal PAD Committee finds a violation of the Recruiting rules as applied to Tryouts Outside the NorCal Tryout Window. The NorCal PAD Committee does not impose sanctions upon Clubs.
As a result, the NorCal PAD Committee refers this matter to the Executive Committee of the NorCal Board of Directors to determine sanctions.