In addition to the ESF 2019 General Policy, the following Sports Policy will apply to all Participants.
Rules and Regulations
1. Eligibility to participate
Please note that ESF 2019 is an event for members of the Ismaili community and their immediate non-Ismaili family members. The Organisers reserve the right to refuse entry to specific events or activities or the whole of ESF 2019.
There is a key change from previous tournaments with regard to the age restrictions. All sports where the category allows participants only up to the age of 16, with the exception of Dodgeball, participants must be of age on 1 September 2018. This is to allow participants to compete with others within their academic bracket.
For all other sports categories, participants must fall within the age group on Friday 19th April 2019.
For full details, please refer to the Age Policy Page which explains the restrictions in more details.
A date of birth is required in order for your entry form to be valid. Date of births will be validated against the IIUK database.
If any participant is found to be in contravention of the age restriction in the respective tournament, he/she and their team (if applicable) may be instantly disqualified.
2. Playing multiple sports at ESF 2019
The sports schedule has been designed to provide participants with maximum choice over the weekend. There are a range of sports to choose from and a wide variety of combinations that are possible. We hope that participants will encourage their friends and family to embrace the spirit of sporting excellence and compete in one or more of the sports on offer!
Participants are able to select one sport within each session, listed out in the schedule (please refer to the Sports Schedule). Participants may not play multiple sports which fall under the same session/time period.
3. Reasons for Disqualification
If any team is fielding an ineligible player, (e.g. a non-registered player or a player outside the age boundaries within an age-restricted category), or if a player is sent off in any match/game or is found to be in any way abusive or disruptive, the team may be disqualified from the match, tournament and/or Festival. Disqualification at ESF 2019 may also lead to disqualification at future tournaments.
The ESF 2019 General Policy and relevant individual policies, including this Sports Policy, will be applicable to determine an outcome should a matter arise.
Each participant is responsible for checking their individual sports’ Rules & Regulations applicable.
4. Time Management
The ESF 2019 Organisers would like to offer participants the following:
● A professionally run tournament.
● A sports schedule minimising any possible clashes enabling participants to compete in a wide number of sports
● An efficient monitoring system which quantifies any delays / free time and where this information can be accessible by both participants and the ESF team at all times
● A greater sense of respect and understanding towards time management issues to make the experience for all sports participants as enjoyable as possible.
It will be the responsibility of participants and captains (team sports only) to keep up to date with any changes to the scheduling. Late arrivals to original or revised schedules will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances and in such instances, matches will be forfeited as described in the Rules and Regulations for each sport.
The ESF 2019 General Policy and relevant individual policies, including this Sports Policy, will be applicable to determine an outcome should a matter arise.
5. Maintaining Close Links with your Sport
For time management purposes, we request all sports participants who have not been eliminated, to remain in close proximity to their respective playing areas at all times (a professional stance will be taken with regards to time management). ESF 2019’s sports scheduling is intended to be clash-free and enables participants to focus on one sport at a time. Please note, if a team/player is not prepared during their scheduled start, they will forfeit that specific match.
The Organisers have endeavoured to arrange for a rapid turnover of games within each sport category in order that participants may still have plenty of free periods during the weekend to enjoy the vast array of other activities on offer as well as having the opportunity to spend time with family and friends.
6. Referees
Any and all decisions of the appointed referee are final. Under no circumstances should the decision of the appointed referee be disputed by a participant or team. Should this happen, the referees may deal with it in any manner they decide is appropriate (including but not limited to issuing bookings and dismissal).
7. Delay Contingency Plans
In the event a sports category may be delayed, tournament organisers reserve the right to re-organise the category such that participants will play under contingency plans (e.g. changes in format and duration for individual games and matches), to allow for the timely completion of that sports category. This is essential in order that other sporting and non-sporting events at ESF 2019 can be set up and completed on time.
8. Sports Entries
Team sports entries must be fully complete unless “Player Finder” is being used by that team.
No participant in a team can be replaced by a participant who is already registered to play for another team for the same sport category.
9. Injury Policy
Injured participants can request to be replaced with unregistered players up until the injury deadline of 11:59pm on Friday 5th April 2019. After this date, no changes or additions will be permitted.
All injury replacements are at the discretion of the Information Management Team and Organisers, whose decision is final.
Once a participant has declared himself/herself unfit or has been removed from a team, they cannot re-enter to play for that team or any other team for that particular sport.
Teams must keep to the original number of players stated on the team captain’s form i.e. if a team has a squad of seven, players cannot be added after the deadline to increase the size of the squad.
A player can only register to play for one team in each sports category. If a player is entered to play for more than one team, that player will immediately be disqualified from that particular sport and may also be disqualified from ESF 2019.
Team players can only be changed by the team captain.
10. Head Injury Policy
The Risk: Head injuries occur very frequently in amateur and professional sport and can lead to a concussion. We understand that concussion is a very severe condition and can lead to life threatening injuries if it is not looked after properly.
Recently the Football Association (FA) published concussion guidelines for both amateur and professional football. We now know that all other injuries are more common after a head injury. We know that after concussion the brain can swell up a little and if there is any further injury to the head it can be life-threatening and lead to long term disability.
Whilst injuries such as these may occur more in contact-heavy sports such as Football and Basketball, the risks apply to every sport, and our policy is applicable across all sports.
Our policy: For any sport, if any referee or member of our policy unit deems that an athlete has suffered a head injury, that player will require a medical assessment.
Following this assessment, if there are any signs of concussion, that athlete will have to leave the field of play and will not be able to compete further within that category at ESF 2019. That athlete will not be allowed to compete in any other sport/categories at ESF 2019 if they are due to compete later in the weekend.
The key to recovering from concussion is rest and the FA advise a minimum mandatory 14 day rest period after such an injury. We really appreciate your co-operation with head injury assessments and if you are asked to leave the field.
11. Player Finder
The tremendously successful Player Finder service will once again be available to all participants at ESF 2019. All players / teams can request the ESF Organisers to find them teams / players / partners for any sport across the weekend..
To make use of this service simply select the Player Finder option within your chosen sports category. We recommend that you submit your application to us by 28 February 2019 to enable us to have a greater chance of matching you with a sports partner/team.
Player Finder details will be held on our database until a match is found based on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. We will then introduce both team/partner and player together by forwarding contact details of relevant parties enabling direct communication prior to the tournament.
