Football clubs, Sunday league football, referees
Football clubs - A football team is the collective name given to a group of players selected together in the various team sports known as football.
Such teams could be selected to play in an against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-star team or even selected as a hypothetical team (such as a Dream Team or Team of the Century) and never play an actual match.
There are several varieties of football, with the most notable being Association football, Gridiron football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby league and rugby union. The number of players selected for each team within these varieties and their associated codes can vary substantially. In some, use of the word "team" is sometimes limited to those who play on the field in a match and does not always include other players who may take part as replacements or emergency players. "Football squad" may be used to be inclusive of these support and reserve players.
Sunday league football is a term used in Britain to describe those association football leagues which play on Sunday, as opposed to the more usual Saturday. These leagues tend to be lower standard amateur competitions, whose players may have less ability, or less time to devote to football, but play purely for the love of the game. The term pub league can also be used, due to the number of public houses that enter teams.
Sunday leagues are sanctioned by the local County Football Association. There is no organised promotion or relegation between leagues, unlike in the National League System, which covers the top few levels of amateur football, although many leagues operate several divisions with promotion and relegation between them. However, ambitious Sunday teams may apply to join a Saturday league for a higher standard of football, and from there graduate to the FA-sanctioned leagues.
The FA Sunday Cup is a national knock-out competition for English Sunday league football teams Referees and whistles - A referee presides over a game of association football. The referee has "full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed" (Law 5), and the referee's decisions regarding facts connected with play are final, so far as the result of the game is concerned.
Referees use a whistle to indicate the commencement or restart of play, to stop or delay play due to an infringement or injury, or to indicate that time has expired in the half. The whistle is an important tool for the Referee along with verbal, body and eye communication. The use of whistles is not mandated by the Laws of the Game.
In fact, the whistle was not mentioned in the Laws of the Game (LOTG) until very recently. The main LOTG simply mentions the referee should signal certain events. Only in 2007, when the IFAB greatly expanded the LOTG Additional Instructions section, did they mention the whistle.