The Capital District Youth League and the FC Columbia Club exists to provide opportunities for the youth of the Capital Region to enjoy soccer. CDYSL has implemented a Zero Tolerance policy to ensure that all games are played in a safe, sporting manner and provide an appropriate environment for our youth soccer players.
Behavior Expectations
CDYSL has established Codes of Conduct for players, coaches, parents and spectators. It is expected that all parties in attendance at CDYSL soccer matches behave in accordance with these Codes at all times.
CDYSL has instructed referees and club officers that they should not tolerate any deviations from the Codes of conduct from players, coaches or spectators; nor should they tolerate any actions, comments or gestures that are deemed obscene, offensive, threatening, intimidating, insulting, degrading, argumentative or disrespectful. This includes behavior directed at the referee as well as behavior directed at other players, coaches or spectators.
Enforcement
Referees are to control player behavior through the use of warnings, Yellow Cards and Red Cards.
Additionally, referees have been instructed to enforce this policy with coaches and spectators using any of the following procedures as they see appropriate
- Suspending the game, delaying the restart of a game in order to issue a verbal warning to the coach, or instruct the coach(es) to issue warnings to the spectators.
- Telling the offending coach or spectator they are ejected and must leave the game and surrounding area. (Parking lot or further).
- Instructing the coach that they must take action to have a spectator removed from the game and surrounding area. (Parking lot or further).
- Abandoning the match
Referees are required to submit a report to CDYSL if any of the above listed actions were necessary to control the behavior at a match; however they have the discretion to file a report at any time.
Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) further instructs that
The use of Foul and Profane language towards another person – opponent, teammate, coaches,
referees, etc. – will result in AUTOMATIC EJECTION [RED CARD]
The use of Foul and Profane language out of frustration will result in AUTOMATIC WARNING [YELLOW CARD]
The above also affects ALL BENCH PERSONNEL.
Additional Penalties
The CDYSL Zero Tolerance Enforcement Committee (ZTEC) will review all reports of misconduct that have been issued. The ZTEC will determine if any further action is necessary. The ZTEC penalties could include, but are not limited to:
- Warnings issued to the club
- Financial penalties to the club.
- Suspension of team personnel (coaches, assistant coaches or players) for one or more games
- Individuals prohibited from attending future games
Penalties imposed by the ZTEC can be appealed through the process detailed in Section VI subsection B of the CDYSL Rules.