Club Registrars or Club Presidents must apply for a player-specific waiver if a player on one of their organization's teams is in one or more of the following situations:

• Does not reside, have a parent/guardian reside, or go to or has gone to school in the submitting town
  
  • Additional waiver requirements exist for non-BAYS league towns
  • Requests to play on a Division 1 team also have separate waiver requirements
• Is older than the stated grade-specific age range
• Is in a higher grade than the BAYS playing grade group requested (eligible for non-MTOC* teams only)
• Plays on a team that exceeds the stated grade-specific roster size limits
• Qualifies for an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation

*The Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC) is a season-ending tournament sponsored by Mass Youth Soccer that brings together age/gender group champions from participating travel leagues. 

Please see the qualifications for the specific waiver types within the online system at Waivers->Waiver Application and also refer to BAYS Rulebook and specifically Match Rule 4:  

Approved BAYS Grade and Age Groupings for the current soccer year can be found here: https://www.bays.org/content/grade-age-groupings-current-soccer-year

The player’s approved waiver number, which is assigned by BAYS and provided to the Club Registrar in their Waivers—>Club Waiver List, must be listed on the official team roster, which then has to be submitted and approved by the appropriate Division Director through the Roster Management system, BEFORE the player can play.

Submission Deadlines

Towns are strongly urged to apply for waivers as soon as they are aware that the need exists. In order to ensure that all waiver requests are processed in time for players to be eligible for the first game of the season, see the submission due dates below:

NOTE: Late submissions will be considered but may not be processed with enough time for the player to play in the first game of the season. Some waivers, especially those relating to MTOC-eligible teams, require additional consideration that may increase the time needed for the approval process.

Waiver Application Process

Club Registrars and Club Presidents are the only individuals able to submit a waiver application at their Waivers—>Waiver Application online menu after logging into the BAYS website. All required information, depending on the waiver type, must be included.

A list of existing waivers carried over from the Fall and still valid for the next Spring season can be found at Waivers—>Club Waiver List. If you want to see a complete list of waivers for any prior season, just change the season at the top left of this page. 

Waiver Decision Process

The waiver decision process is a multistep process:

1. Registrar/Club Presidents determines the need for a player waiver and submits a waiver application online. Waiver submission is confirmed with a green banner on the top of the screen.
2. The waiver application is electronically routed to the BAYS Waiver Directors
3. A BAYS Waiver Director evaluates each waiver application:
   
   1. If needed, the Waiver Director will contact the submitter to clarify incomplete information.
   2. Depending on the type, some waivers are automatically approved if the submitted information meets the waiver criteria, while others are discretionary and require review and consideration by the BAYS Waivers Committee per the BAYS Match Rules.
4. Waivers remain Pending until a Waiver Director updates the waiver status to one of the following:
   • Approved
   • Denied
   • Incomplete Information
   • Duplicate
   • Inactive

A status change will generate a BAYS Waiver Status Change notification email to the submitter. The submitter can view the current waiver status, by logging into BAYS.org and using the Waivers->Club Waiver Management menu functionality.

If a waiver has been approved, you will be able to see the assigned waiver number to list on the team roster. If denied, the waiver decision is appealable to the BAYS Board of Directors and then to Mass Youth Soccer.

Effective Time Period

Waivers may be granted for a single season, either fall “F" or spring "S", or be granted for an entire soccer year "A". In the spring season, waivers with the “A” status granted in the prior fall season will display, since they remain active for the entire soccer year. All waivers expire at the end of the soccer year (spring season) and MUST be reapplied for in the next soccer year (fall season), even if the conditions underlying the waiver request have not changed.

Decoding a Waiver Number

The first character is always “W” which indicates that the number is for a waiver.

The second character indicates the effective time period/seasons that the waiver applies to: “A” for ALL (both Fall and the next Spring), “F” for Fall only, and “S” for Spring only.

The third character indicates the last digit of the calendar year in which the waiver expires. Spring only or All waivers will display a higher digit there than Fall only waivers.

The fourth character indicates the subtype of the waiver listed below in basic order of frequency:

• Under BAYS Player Waiver Eligibility: Match Rule 4 
  
  • “R” is for Residency-based waivers including Interleague
  • “G” for higher Grade waivers (correct birth year but higher grade)
  • “A” for over-Age based waivers (correct grade but up to one year older than age limit)
  • “S” for roster Size waivers
  • “O” for Other waivers

The final three numbers ### in the waiver code are a unique computer assigned number (meaning there will only be one waiver with the suffix 123 for each season).

Boston Resident

There is an informal agreement from 2005 that affects players residing in Boston towns (including: Dorchester, Hill House, Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury/Parkway, and South End). Boston residents may play with any of these five Boston-based soccer organizations. With the exception of automatic waivers under 2A (which do not need approval from the 5 organizations), an organization located outside Boston that wishes to add a Boston resident to one of its teams must first obtain the approval of the Club Presidents of the 5 Boston organizations. It is understood that after a two week wait for a response the Registrar of the requesting Club can forward an email to the Waiver Director on the status, with email responses not already sent, of correspondence from each of the 5 Boston Clubs.

Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood that has parts in Newton, Brookline, and Boston. When Registrars list a player's town of residence, they should include what part of Chestnut Hill the player lives in.

• Depending on the location, specific designations must be listed on the roster to clarify that the player lives in the part of Chestnut Hill that is included in their town. If different, a residency waiver is needed:
  • Chestnut Hill - Boston
  • Chestnut Hill - Brookline
  • Chestnut Hill - Newton

Hanscom Air Force Base (HAFB) Residents

Players in Grades 3-8 residing on HAFB may register with any of the clubs listed below that have property included in HAFB. This is even though HAFB schools are overseen by Lincoln’s school superintendent. 

All Grade 3-8 players with a HAFB address need a waiver to play in BAYS for any of the four towns. This should be submitted as a 2A2a Residency Waiver in the waiver application.

• Bedford Youth Soccer
• Concord-Carlisle Youth Soccer
• Lexington United Soccer Club
• Lincoln Youth Soccer

Players in Grades 9-12 residing on HAFB who attend high school in Bedford should be registered with Bedford Youth Soccer. These players do not need a waiver to play for Bedford.

ADA Waivers

Town must submit a physician-certified statement of the nature of the disability; a statement of the accommodation requested; a summary of the actions taken by the town to accommodate the player and why those actions have not been deemed satisfactory or why action by BAYS is required; and a recommendation by the town as to the specific action that should be taken. ADA waivers require a Waivers Committee vote. If a player will play on an MTOC-eligible team in the Spring, a vote by the Mass Youth Soccer Leagues Committee will be necessary for the player to play at MTOC.

Interleague Waivers (Massachusetts Residents Only)

Interleague waivers are REQUIRED for ALL PLAYERS who live in a non-BAYS town and extra steps are necessary. See the online Waiver Application for detailed instructions. Please review the instructions carefully. BAYS Interleague waivers START with the submission of an online BAYS Waiver Application.

Some useful contact information for non-BAYS towns/leagues can be found at the MYSA website: www.mayouthsoccer.org click on the "About/Affiliated Leagues" and select the League of interest. Each league page has links to the towns that it serves.

Interleague player transfers onto MTOC-eligible rosters are not permitted (are “frozen”) after April 30 of the seasonal soccer year.

Interleague Waivers (non-Massachusetts Residents)

There are three categories to consider, Resident of U.S. States with reciprocal relationship with Mass Youth Soccer, Resident of U.S. States without reciprocal relationship with Mass Youth Soccer, and International players.

Contact Mass Youth Soccer for a list of those states with reciprocal relationships. At the time of this writing, all six New England states have reciprocal relationships.

For a resident of a state with a reciprocal relationship, the player is treated as if they were a resident of a BAYS town. The club needs to secure a waiver based on one of the BAYS Residency Bylaws. The player is then affiliated with Mass Youth Soccer along with all the players. The player does not register with the state of residence.

For a resident of a state without a reciprocal relationship, the player first needs to register with the state of residence and fill out the transfer form from that state and submit to Mass Youth Soccer for processing. Once the interstate transfer is complete, the club may apply for a BAYS residency waiver. The receiving club still needs to affiliate the player with Mass Youth Soccer.

For international players, USSF rules require an international release. In practice, since the highest level of competition for BAYS is MTOC which is entirely within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Mass Youth does not require BAYS to seek International clearance. For details about players without a U.S. birth certificate, click here: https://www.bays.org/content/international-waivers

For more information about Out of State, International, or non U.S. Citizen waivers, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].