On Saturday, June 19th, the Los Angeles Force hosted New Amsterdam FC in a regular season NISA match. The Force had been sharing Championship Stadium at Great Park in Irvine, Calif. with the Cal United Strikers as their home field. Their previous home match against Chattanooga FC was played at SilverLakes Sports Complex in Norco, Calif. The match against New Amsterdam also was at an alternate venue, Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif.

The match started at 7pm Pacific Time. LA Force got on the board just before the half due to an own goal by New Amsterdam, and then scored a second in the 45th minute off a beautiful strike by Cristian Gordillo-Moreno.

Sunset in Costa Mesa on that day was 8:04pm. The second half of the match began at that same time. The field lights came on but, watching the online stream, seemed inadequate to fully illuminate the field itself. Ten minutes into the half, player shadows were obvious but the field continued to darken. Over the span of the next ten minutes, the available natural light quickly disappeared and it became clear that the field lights were not strong enough for a night game.

In the 63rd minute, the game announcers commented on a joke made by a fan to “turn on the lights” and that it had gotten dark. One of the lights, on the corner of the field at the LA Force’s end line, was not even working causing that side to be even darker.

Just a couple of minutes later, New Amsterdam gained a corner kick in that dark area where the field light was out. The lead announcer joked, “Unfortunately, I can’t see who’s taking that corner kick right now.” Following a stoppage in play in the 66th minute, the head referee walked over to talk to both benches. A few minutes later, the announcers related that the game had been stopped due to the darkness “for the safety of the players.” The game feed then cut out for a minute but returned for a formal announcement from the announcers that the game had been stopped “for safety reasons”.

Soon after the game, the official NISA Twitter handle posted the result as final. And, the next day, the official NISA website updated the league table with the result as final.

Protagonist Soccer has access to the 2019-2020 NISA Operations Manual which was applicable for the Spring 2020 season. Without access to the current version, we are relying on the information in the older manual to provide an understanding of how that decision was made. The Operations Manual provides the rules for how the league should handle stopping a game early and what to do after a game has been stopped early.

Section 13: Game Delay, Interruption, Postponement, etc. is relevant to the latest LA Force home match.

Subsection 13.2.: AUTHORITY TO DELAY, INTERRUPT, POSTPONE OR ABANDON A GAME states that a game may only be delayed, interrupted, abandoned or postponed by the Referee of the League Designee. It goes on to state that “[e]xcept with respect to safety concerns of the Referee, the League Designee shall have the ultimate authority whether to abandon or postpone a Game...for purposes of inclement weather and/or other adverse conditions [which] exist that are beyond the control of the participating Teams and which would jeopardize the safety of the Players, Game Officials or spectators.”

Subsection 13.3 DELAYS AND INTERRUPTIONS includes subsection 13.3.3 Stadium Power Failure. It states that if the Referee determines that it is dangerous to play due to a partial or total stadium power failure, the Referee has the authority to interrupt play until the power failure has been resolved. Subsection 13.5 RESTART AFTER INTERRUPTION states that “the Referee shall restart play after deemed safe to do so or permitted to do so by the League Designee.”

Subsection 13.6 GAME ABANDONMENT AND POSTPONEMENT states that “[i]n the event of any Game delay or interruption that lasts in excess of 60 minutes, such Game may be abandoned or postponed in the sole discretion of the League Designee; however, any delay or interruption that lasts at least 180 minutes shall result in a Game abandonment. Game abandonments and postponements will generally only occur when conditions are unsafe to resume play…” It also states that “[i]f the Game delay or interruption occurred after the commencement of the second half, the score and all statistics shall be considered final and shall count in the League Standings.”

Finally, subsection 13.7 GAME RESCHEDULING states that the League Designee will work with both teams to determine a mutually acceptable time and date to reschedule an abandoned or postponed game. If the teams cannot agree to such, the League gets final say to reschedule the game.

Important context is included in the language of this subsection. “The League Office shall review all the facts - including fault on the part of either Team, unavoidable conditions, expense for both Teams, requests by a Team to take a particular action and the best interest of NISA and the Teams - in determining whether a Game must be rescheduled and when, who should bear the financial burden as a result of the cancellation or rescheduling, whether the Game should be forfeited or cancelled permanently, and whether other sanctions should be levied. The integrity of NISA as well as the Home and Visiting Teams’ schedules must be given considerable weight in the resolution of these matters.” And, “[u]nless the sanction or remedy is set forth specifically in any NISA rules or directives, the League Office shall decide what action to take, and its decision shall be final.”

It seems in this case, the Referee interrupted the match due to safety concerns per the authority given. What is uncertain if the interruption lasted in excess of 60 minutes as the announcement that it was being stopped happened just a few minutes after the Referee spoke to both benches and, also, the speed at which the NISA Twitter account posted the final score. It is unknown if there was any attempt to fix the lighting situation after the interruption.

In any event, the game must have been called abandoned by someone in the league office. And, given that, per the Operations Manual, the two teams must have been unable to determine a time and date to reschedule the match and, as such, the league decided, given all things involved, to allow the result to stand because the second half had begun rather than reschedule

When asked about the decision and the result, the league responded with a short comment. “The game was called due to lighting issues. After 180 minutes, a game stopped in the second half is unable to resume...it’s called final.”

The key issue for fans and clubs alike is how important this result was for LA Force. The three points put LA in the top spot of the table and into the Spring season final. And this is the second time the league seems to have dropped the ball in as many weeks, allowing multiple west coast clubs to not stream games, regardless of the fact that match streaming is required per league rules. The general mood on social media platforms is that NISA is allowing clubs to bend, if not outright break, the rules. And the league’s silence in responding to the concerns or seeming to dismiss criticism is not a good look for the fledgling league, opening itself to criticism from fans and critics alike.

The resulting win for LA may have been by the book, but reading the room and explaining the situation in a concise and public manner would go a long way for NISA’s standings with their most ardent supporters.