Question Number: 21414

Law 3 - Number of Players 5/26/2009

RE: rec Under 14

Laura Heilman of Wilkie, Saskatchewan Canada asks...

what are the rules for allowing 'time out' to be called. We used to have 1 time-out per half and have now been told we cannot, and that it has not ever been allowed.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

There are timeouts in other sports, but there has never been any provision for timeouts in soccer, nor will there be. What you may have thought were timeouts may have been stoppages for particular actions, but they are not timeouts in the traditional sense, where timeouts are called by coaches or captains and last a particular amount of time.

In itty bitty soccer, they sometimes play quarters, with perhaps a minute or two between quarters, which might have been called a timeout by the uninformed, but it is not. Even those stoppages are part of the game, come at regular intervals and are not timeouts to be called by coaches or players.

Sometimes, tournaments, leagues or associations will institute a water break during a game, especially for younger players and especially when the weather is very hot. Again, that is not a timeout, but an allowance by the referees for the players to take a quick drink of water before continuing with play.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Usually the wee ones and if the weather is too hot, water breaks could be incorporated at either referee discretion or they have SCHEDULED stoppages in a specific tournament! There generally is no REQUEST allowed by a COACH or TEAM for a time out to say regroup. That is why those fake injuries keep happening! ;o) LOL
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I recall at least one state HS rules adaptation to include a time-out called by the coach (in the US, an extension to the NFHS rules). That wouldn't apply in Sask.