Playing the Schedule Spring 2021 season

Recommended Guiding Principles for the Spring 2021 season

• Town Board of Health guidelines and restrictions override BAYS policy and recommendations and need to be adhered to by all teams.

  • Home town rules affected by BOH restrictions need to be communicated to opponents ASAP.

• TEAMS are not TOWNS. Decisions to play need to be made based on team-level considerations.

• Playing the Schedule per the BAYS Rules is important and efforts should be made to play all games.

  • Game rescheduling parameters and forfeit rules/fines per the BAYS Rules are in effect (some COVID issues will warrant extensions)

 

BAYS Spring 2021 policy for postponing or canceling games against teams from TOWNS that are RED on the Mass COVID-19 list.

• A club or team should NOT unilaterally choose to postpone a match against teams when their TOWN is red. Teams are not towns, and the decision to play or postpone should be made at the TEAM level. (See Team level discussion below). We treat all member organizations the same, without any judgment based on the status level of the town/city they reside in.

  • If a parent feels uncomfortable with their child playing a team from a red town, they have the choice to opt out of the game. If enough parents opt out, this may cause the team to forfeit according to BAYS rules.

• However, if your town Board of Health expressly prohibits your entire town club from playing a home or away game against any opponent from a town that is red, then the game should not be played and will be marked as a NG. 

  • As soon as you know you will not be playing you must inform the other team (not later than Thursday evening) so appropriate measures like canceling the referee crew can be done in a timely manner. Please keep your Division Director in the loop. 

  • The Division Director will assign a no game (NG) status which will be removed if the game can be made up within five(5) weeks. This is an extension of the BAYS make-up window.  Teams should work to reschedule the game once the Red town designation has been removed.

 

BAYS Spring 2021 policy for teams postponing or canceling games against TEAMS that have a COVID quarantine issue that prevents them from playing:

• The Division Director will assign a no game (NG) status if a game cannot be played because one of the teams has insufficient players due to compliance with COVID quarantine guidelines,

  • NG will be removed if the game can be made up within five(5) weeks. This is an extension of the BAYS make-up window. Teams should work to reschedule the game as soon as the quarantine restriction has been removed.

 

BAYS policy for teams postponing, canceling, or not playing games for reasons other than a team-based or town board of health-based COVID restriction that prevents them from playing: 

• BAYS normal rules apply. See the BAYS Rulebook for Playing the Schedule.