Maritime Football League- Special Rules

(1) APPLICATION OF SPECIAL RULES

These special rules apply to all Maritime Football League games.

(2) ELIGIBILTY

Players must be at least 18 years old on December 31 in the year of play..
In order to participate in a playoff game a player must have played in a minimum of two regular season games. A player will not be made ineligible if their failure to play the two required games was because of injury. Teams playing in the Maritime Championship game are NOT permitted to pick up players from other teams in their conference.

(3) LEAGUE PHILOSOPHY

The athletes in this league are adults. Many of them are employed full time. As well, teams in this league will practice much less than university or high school teams. Players will not be as fit as these younger players. Therefore, the probability and consequences of injury for them are significantly higher.
The Maritime Football League has modified a number of the rules in the "Canadian Rulebook for Tackle Football" with the intention of reducing the possibility and incidence of serious injuries.

(4) GENERAL RULES

Unless otherwise specified below, the conduct of games in the Maritime Football League will be in accordance with the Canadian Rulebook for Tackle Football.

(5) FIELD SIZE

Games will be played on a regulation sized 65 yard wide Canadian Football Field .

(6) NUMBER OF PLAYERS ON THE FIELD

Teams will play with 10 players on the field. The offence must have 5 players on the line of scrimmage; two less than for 12 player football. The "Tackle" position has been eliminated.

(7) GAME LENGTH

Games will consist of 4 quarters of 12 minutes each timed in accordance with the Canadian Rulebook for Tackle Football. This would result in games being 2-2.5 hours long.

(8) NUMBER OF DOWNS

         For all games teams will play 4 down football with the one yard neutral zone. The offence must throw a legal forward pass on at least one of the first three downs in each series of downs.
        Failure to do so will result in an "Illegal Procedure" penalty. Officials will not stop play until the ball is dead. Attempting to pass and getting sacked or being forced to run will not satisfy this rule. The ball must be thrown as a legal forward pass. A lateral pass will not satisfy this rule. Officials should point this out to a team that has just thrown a lateral pass. A five yard penalty will be applied and the down repeated. The offensive team will still be obligated to pass the ball again after the penalty has been applied.
        The defensive team has the option to decline the penalty, let the play stand and bring up fourth down. The offensive team can run the ball on fourth down.
        In order to avoid this penalty teams are strongly advised to pass on either first or second down.

(9) BLOCKING RESTRICTIONS

Initiating blocks below the waist is not permitted. Illegal blocks below the waist are a 15 yard penalty. Any player penalized twice for this infraction in the same game will not be permitted to play the remainder of the game.

(10) PRESSURE DEFENCE RESTRICTIONS

       Defensive players may blitz from any depth inside "The Box". Players outside "The Box" are not allowed to blitz. The total number of players blitzing can exceed the number of interior down offensive linemen (C, G, TE) by no more than one.
       A player is considered to be inside "The Box" if their inside foot is in line with or inside of the outside foot of the outermost interior down offensive lineman (C, G, TE).
      There is no restriction on where defensive players can line up.
      If this rule is violated the defence will be penalized 5 yards for "illegal defence". In order to minimize penalties, it is strongly recommended that the defensive captain keep the Line Umpire informed of planned blitzes.

Note: The purpose of this rule is to protect a quarterback attempting to pass from within the pocket.

(11) HASH MARKS

The nearest goalpost will be used as the "hash mark". This will reduce the maximum width of the wide side of the field from 41 yards to just over 35 yards. With teams playing only 10 players aside on a regulation 65 yard wide Canadian football field this modification will help compensate for defences having two less players than normal to cover a regulation sized Canadian football field.

(12) MERCY RULE

When a team has taken and maintained a lead of at least 30 points, the remainder of the game will be timed
"straight time" if agreed to by the coach of the trailing team. He has the option of having the game continue to be timed in accordance with the Canadian Rulebook for Tackle Football until the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter of the game will be timed "straight time".

(13) OVERTIME

Where two teams are tied at the end of a game they will play overtime using the "shootout" format from the Canadian Rulebook for Tackle Football until a winner is declared.

(14) HALFTIME

During the regular season, halftime will be 10 minutes. During the playoffs, halftime will be
15 minutes.

(15) LIMIT ON NUMBER OF PRACTICES

During the regular season teams are limited to a maximum of two practices per week. There is no limitation on the number of practices in the preseason or during the playoffs. Teams are not permitted to wear gear until May 1.

(16) OFFICIAL BALL

The official football of the Maritime Football League is the Wilson F2000 CIS leather ball. The hosting team is responsible for providing the game ball.

(17) NATURE OF COMPETITION

The primary goal of the Maritime Football League is to promote the growth of friendly competition. In cases where the two teams end up being very unequal in strength and skill the stronger team is asked to take into account the long term consequences of running up the score on the weaker team; both on the future of that team and on the union.

(18) TEAM RECEPTIONS

After games, the home team will host a reception, party or "night on the town" for the visiting team. Details will be made known to the visiting team as soon as possible, preferably by a communication between team executives a week before the game.