Forfeits

[Bostonhammer]

What measures the league is taking to reduce the number of forfeits. Our team has been affected by three forfeits this season, and there have been six total in our division. This has impacted the competitiveness our division. Are there any plans to address this issue moving forward?

Last fall, three of the four games in the final week of the season were forfeited, ultimately deciding which teams advanced to the playoffs and which were relegated.

[Jeremy Mordkoff]

We'd love to hear your thoughts/ideas on this. It is a constant topic of conversation. 

Recently we changed the penalty for forfeits from 2 card points to 2 standings points, then we allowed teams to forfeit one game a season without penalty. Perhaps we should only allow that rule to apply on certain weeks of the season? 

Any other ideas? 

Jeremy Mordkoff

Webmaster, www.othsl.org

 

On Sat, Jul 19, 2025 at 6:02 PM Bostonhammer <bbwh...@gmail.com> wrote:

What measures the league is taking to reduce the number of forfeits. Our team has been affected by three forfeits this season, and there have been six total in our division. This has impacted the competitiveness our division. Are there any plans to address this issue moving forward?

Last fall, three of the four games in the final week of the season were forfeited, ultimately deciding which teams advanced to the playoffs and which were relegated.

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[Bostonhammer]

I have a few ideas.

Forfeits tend to punish other teams, especially when teams use them strategically after their league position is already determined—whether they’re safely in the playoffs, already relegated, or mathematically out of contention for playoff or relegation. In these cases, the current penalties often have no real impact, making them ineffective deterrents.  I don't believe any forfeits should be "allowed".

To address this, I propose the following measures:

1. Point or Card Point Deductions in Final Weeks
   If a team forfeits in the final one or two weeks and is in a playoff position:
   • Deduct 2 league points or 2 card points, whichever has a greater impact.
   • If the team has 13+ card points, apply the card deduction.
   • If the point deduction would remove them from playoff contention, apply that instead.
   • If neither affects their current standing, carry the 2-point deduction into the next season.
2. Carry-Over Penalties for Relegated Teams
   If a team is already relegated, any point deduction should carry over to the next season to maintain accountability.
3. Financial Penalties
   Introduce a cash fine for forfeiting, adding a tangible consequence regardless of league position.

 The carry over penalty was implemented in a league I played a long time ago and it drastically cut down on the number of forfeits. The only teams that forfeited were teams that were disbanding anyway.

The above punishments ensure that forfeits carry real consequences, regardless of a team’s standing.

[Brad Hickey]

Something could be considered for habitual offenders but if the rules allow a forfeit with proper notice (which is absolutely reasonable) then it doesn’t technically matter whether it happens in week 2 or week 10. The impact on the standings is the same.

The roster restrictions, school vacations and spring season bleeding into summer make many of the age groups challenging to field a proper lineup at times. This is a rec league after all.

Perhaps forfeits could be used in tiebreaker considerations but I think forcing a team to risk a safety issue by arriving with only 9-10 players vs. a severe penalty or eviction from the league would be unwise. Losing points in the standings is already a pretty severe penalty.

 

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[James Carr]

Field availability is one way to help. One change the league could make is to ban 9 a.m start times (or allow 11 a.m. start times). This might help reduce forfeits that result from teams not being able to find alternate fields for weather related cancelations. 9 a.m. start times effectively reduce the number of available slots at fields by half because of the league rule that games have to be done by noon. This is a big problem for the Boston area teams especially who often share fields with other teams. We need to restrict teams to 8 am or 10 am start times so that four teams can share fields on Sunday mornings. When teams reserve fields for 9 am this isn't possible. The Rec departments should manage this better but unfortunately they don't always stay on top of it. If the league had a rule about it it would help a lot.

On Saturday, July 19, 2025 at 6:42:31 PM UTC-4 webmaster wrote:

[Joe Barrett]

This past season we avoided a forfeit by playing a double header of 2 60

minute games on the away date with our opponent 

Joe

On Jul 22, 2025, at 11:13 AM, Brad Hickey <bradg...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[KC]

Hello everyone - we've created a poll to gather some of the reasons for forfeits. Please select all the options that your team has used to forfeit or add your reason if you don't see it in the poll. It's anonymous so feel free to speak freely.

The link to the poll is here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGxBPdndMLTn0pgokd-G71VoHAT0Nvf3i_bWlUbV3Y216yhw/viewform

Thanks,

Kofi

[Richard Fontes]

I think the poll is going to have a fair amount of selection bias in it. My experience is that the teams that forfeit are not well organized and therefore wouldn't respond to a poll like this and/or even know about this distribution list. Also, it's been my experience that most teams that forfeit a bunch are on the verge of dissolving, which means they are probably not around anymore to respond to this poll (survivorship bias).

I like and support all of the recommendations given so far. 

BSSL has a forfeit bond that would complement many of the standings-related penalties that have already been suggested. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/othsl/b219e0ee-4fb8-40bc-9eea-656646d3c4aen%40googlegroups.com.

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[Kofi Hamilton]

Thanks for the concern Richard - fyi we will NOT be using the poll results to make any decisions as we have only a handful of responses.

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[isb]

Hi All,

Jumping back to this old thread as it's relevant to our division/section in week 10.  I see all the sides to this (win your games it's not an issue, why don't teams lose points for forfeiting, etc.), but it's specifically relevant to this weekends game for over 40s 3N so wanted to highlight -- a forfeited team locked in 11 points, 23 goals against, and 9 card points by forfeiting while two teams on 10 points play each other -- one with 22 goals against and 8 card points and the other with 4 card points but 25 goals against -- and could both end with 11 points.  

Feel free to check the standings (https://www.othsl.org/cgi-bin/socman.pl?DATADIR=25f&LDN=m3n) but I'm hoping this picture comes through.

One team forfeited game 10 -- I can't say for sure they did it on purpose, but they did lock in their results.  For week 10, this gives them a) two goals against and b) no card points.  For the 9 games before this they were averaging a) 1 card point a game and b) 2.33 goals against.  A forfeit gives them a) zero card points and b) just 2 goals against -- a little less than average.  Why are these important?  First, one more card point would have gotten them a 2 point deduction in the standings and put them at risk of demotion no matter their game result if played.  Second, with a forfeit going in as only 2 goals against, it lowered their goals against per game average -- which is one of the next tie breakers in our league.

I don't know that I know anything is necessarily better, but given how card points work I would think that it might be worth considering a one card point for forfeiting in game 8, 9, or 10 might be fair (or maybe even one standings point).  Another option is it might be worth moving forfeits in games 8, 9, or 10 to something like a result of 6-0 (or even 9-0) vs. 2-0 to discourage any teams from trying to game the standings.  Or maybe both?

I'll note, I'm not on a team that could end up tied with the team that forfeited (or the team that forfeited).  I just feel for those two teams who play all ten games risking a yellow in each vs. a team that plays 9 with 9 card points and doesn't get penalized for skipping that 10th game with a penalty of less card points and goals against than an average game.

Good luck to everyone playing Sunday and just as important stay healthy!

Thanks,

Ian

[NEOTHSL Reports]

There are already 13 forfeits for week 10 (out of 140 games). Some teams locked in and resting for playoffs, some walking wounded licking their wounds, some teams that have all but folded. C'est la guerre.

[Scott Giarla]

I propose that we adjust the 'no standings deduction forfeit' rule such that it can be used any of the first 9 weeks - but can't be used in week 10.  I believe that would reduce the number of week 10 forfeits.  I'd be interested to see what percentage of all the forfeits come in the final week...I'd be willing to bet it's a very lopsided percentage - I'm guessing somewhere close to 75-80%

Best,

Scott Giarla

OTHSL Division Director o40, D4

c: 617-817-1665

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/othsl/23ac1ce0-8b82-4606-b8d5-e5ac2fc20580n%40googlegroups.com.

[James Carr]

The only thing that would possibly have made a difference to our unfortunate team this miserable season would be shorter travel times. Penalizing us 2, 4 or 100 points wouldn’t matter. 

We were switched last year into a region with longer driving times. The prospect of driving an hour at 6:30 a.m. on a cold November Sunday when the best hope is to maybe avoid another 6 goal thrashing… that is not very attractive to a skeleton crew of beaten-down players. Anything to keep teams in closer geographic proximity…

In a past season it might have made a difference like you describe in terms of avoiding relegation and I vaguely remember some discussions ...but in the end people 100% wanted to play and earn it rather than avoid relegation by forfeiting.

- James

On Nov 7, 2025, at 11:04 PM, isb <ian.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi All,

Jumping back to this old thread as it's relevant to our division/section in week 10.  I see all the sides to this (win your games it's not an issue, why don't teams lose points for forfeiting, etc.), but it's specifically relevant to this weekends game for over 40s 3N so wanted to highlight -- a forfeited team locked in 11 points, 23 goals against, and 9 card points by forfeiting while two teams on 10 points play each other -- one with 22 goals against and 8 card points and the other with 4 card points but 25 goals against -- and could both end with 11 points.  

Feel free to check the standings (https://www.othsl.org/cgi-bin/socman.pl?DATADIR=25f&LDN=m3n) but I'm hoping this picture comes through.

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[Bostonhammer]

A forfeit should have a two card point penalty regardless of what week it happens in.  

[Jeremy Mordkoff]

we switched from card points to standings points. Are you suggesting we switch back? Or use both? 

Jeremy Mordkoff

Webmaster, www.othsl.org

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/othsl/5d5fff47-19e4-4b02-97a5-2b0374275c0cn%40googlegroups.com.

[Bostonhammer]

Maybe both for week 10 no matter what, even if it's the first forfeit.

[Jamie Metcalfe]

It was fine the way it was originally. If you can't play the game, take the consequences.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/othsl/6517ee19-e293-44d2-b4cd-05f9eb1c42ecn%40googlegroups.com.