[Ruben Santana]

The current rules about The Pull (Chapter 7) clearly outline procedures for starting a game and handle situations where a team fails to signal readiness or breaches positioning requirements. However, there seems to be a gap in adequately addressing violations for misalignment due to incorrect player count (less than 5 or more than 7 players on the field).

The rules that may well be subject to interpretation that assesses this might be: 5.1 and 7.1.1:
5.1. Each team will put a maximum of seven (7) players and a minimum of five (5) players on the field during each point.
7.1.1. Teams must prepare for the pull without unreasonable delay.

And in accordance with the rules:

7.1.1. Teams must prepare for the pull without unreasonable delay.

7.2. The pull may be made only after both teams have signalled their readiness by having the puller and a player on offence raise a hand above their head.

7.3. After signalling readiness all offensive players must stand with one foot on their defending goal line without changing location relative to one another until the pull is released.

7.4. After signalling readiness all defensive players must keep their feet entirely behind the vertical plane of the goal line until the pull is released.

7.5. If a team breaches 7.3 or 7.4 the opposing team may call a violation (“offside”). This must be called before the offence touches the disc (7.8 still applies).

7.5.1. If the defence chooses to call offside, the thrower must establish a pivot point as per 7.9, 7.10, 7.11, or 7.12 and then play restarts as soon as possible as if a time-out had been called at that location.
7.5.2. If the offence chooses to call offside, they must let the disc hit the ground untouched and then resume play as if a brick has been called (no check is required).

Here’s the situation:

The existing rules focus on violations during a pull with a proper team setup (5 to 7 players each). There’s no mention of how to handle situations where a team starts play with an incorrect number of players, violations are for 7.3 or 7.4 (feet positioning requirements during the pull). This can lead to confusion and unfair advantages depending on the direction of the misalignment.

Suggestion for Improvement:

The rules could be improved by incorporating a specific clause that addresses improper alignment due to player count violations. This clause could outline the following:

-The opposing team may call a violation (“misalignment”).
-If the violation is called before the offense touches the disc, play stops immediately, and the disc is returned to the puller for a re-pull.
-If the violation is called after the offense touches the disc, play stops immediately, and the team that committed the infraction should be penalized.

This could ensure a fair game, as both teams would check the correct number of players on the field before throwing the pull.

[Rueben Berg]

This is covered in the Appendix – A7.4.

[Ruben Santana]

Thank you Rueben, you’re absolutely right. My mistake.