# ECNL And NPL rule change needed… rules for playing down



## Soccermaverick (Jul 27, 2021)

I am seeing teams play 3 levels down to win… Surf Cup as an example .. these teams are playing level 3 or 4 to win tournaments.. They go to ECNL or NPL and they are last on the list… Why are they in the league?…. New rule:  “team must play in the top 2 levels of any tournament”… worst part ….the background picture on the website says best of the best… really!


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## timbuck (Jul 27, 2021)

I don't disagree.  But in the example of Surf Cup-  I'm not sure the team is able to select where they are slated.


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## lafalafa (Jul 27, 2021)

I dunno tournament bracket placement is normally based only the organizations running them 

Some use gotsoccer or other history to help determine placement.

Going solely by team name or league affliction is tough lately as not a lot of games or tournaments have been played , teams are newer,with a different coach or starting over again in the new calendar year.

Most teams want to play there level but there is only so many in each bracket and sometimes not enough to go around to balance things out. 

In the bigger tournaments never going to be perfect , some teams that may want to play the top flight don't get in and others are placed in a lower flight even though they may say NEXT, GA, ECXx in their name because they don't have any recent tournaments results or maybe where middle to lower table in league.   

Asking to play down well that's another topic most good tournament schedulers outside of the home cooking ignore those requests.


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## dad4 (Jul 27, 2021)

Are the high rank teams in low brackets socal teams?

I see a few questionable placements, mostly OC/SD. 
Many of them were probably upset to be ranked low.

It looks more like an effort to keep Best of the Best from becoming the socal bracket.


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## espola (Jul 27, 2021)

dad4 said:


> Are the high rank teams in low brackets socal teams?
> 
> I see a few questionable placements, mostly OC/SD.
> Many of them were probably upset to be ranked low.
> ...


Surf Cup has always had a big incentive to please out-of-area teams who will need a dozen or so hotel rooms each.  Even if they lose every game, they can say it was because they were placed in a top bracket.


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## Goforgoal (Jul 27, 2021)

The reasons why have pretty much been covered here (politics, favoritism and hotel dollars), but yeah, for the most part, teams have zero say in where they are flighted for Surf Cup.


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## espola (Jul 27, 2021)

If such a rule were broken, what would be the penalty?


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## lafalafa (Jul 27, 2021)

espola said:


> If such a rule were broken, what would be the penalty?


No soup for you ...

Tournaments without affiliations to a league not sure that many care that much. Maybe the lower flight teams care more but if your top flight, play on. 

Usclub and USYS have their own tournament sanctioning so they could make recommendations or guidelines but they tend to defer to the tournament organizers.

With all the different alphabet soup of leagues it's good there are opportunities to play each other in some tournaments but can be difficult to get balanced brackets since equivalency and team records are just starting to sort themselves out after covid and thes Shift/reshuffle due to leagues coming/going recently


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## espola (Jul 27, 2021)

espola said:


> If such a rule were broken, what would be the penalty?





lafalafa said:


> No soup for you ...
> 
> Tournaments without affiliations to a league not sure that many care that much. Maybe the lower flight teams care more but if your top flight, play on.
> 
> ...


I don't disagree with anything you wrote, but I don't think it answers the question.


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## RedCard (Jul 27, 2021)

Surf Cup did say that 1065 teams applied to play in Surf Cup and only 534 teams getting accepted. Out of those teams, 88% of those teams requested to be placed in the Best of the Best bracket, which would be impossible.


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## espola (Jul 27, 2021)

RedCard said:


> Surf Cup did say that 1065 teams applied to play in Surf Cup and only 534 teams getting accepted. Out of those teams, 88% of those teams requested to be placed in the Best of the Best bracket, which would be impossible.


Why would any team coach go to the trouble and expense of applying to Surf Cup and not want to play in the top bracket?


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## timbuck (Jul 28, 2021)

espola said:


> Why would any team coach go to the trouble and expense of applying to Surf Cup and not want to play in the top bracket?


For the travel stipend????


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## GT45 (Jul 29, 2021)

espola said:


> Why would any team coach go to the trouble and expense of applying to Surf Cup and not want to play in the top bracket?


Surf Cup is ultimately a showcase. If you play in the top bracket when you have no business being in that bracket, your players will not show well. Bracket placement is important to give your players the opportunity to showcase themselves. Yes, more coaches are at top bracket games, but if your team is overwhelmed your players opportunities (at the programs watching) will be eliminated, not enhanced.


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## futboldad1 (Jul 29, 2021)

GT45 said:


> Surf Cup is ultimately a showcase. If you play in the top bracket when you have no business being in that bracket, your players will not show well. Bracket placement is important to give your players the opportunity to showcase themselves.


Our coach told us that Surf picks the brackets based on a team's previous performances at Surf and how well they did their previous league season....... but I Agree wit you if teams are missing many players through injury or travel IMHO the coach should petition to drop to a lower bracket......but maybes the argument against that is a lot of the kids getting watched were already on college watch lists so they are watching the individual not the team so maybe it is better to stay versus the top opponents even if missing players, or not, depends on case by case I suppose...............I remember a showcase not so long ago where we lost our goalie ...... *my DD was mostly just happy to begin the season in the summer which didn't happen last year until almost thanksgiving*


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