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This page contains the fantasy football rules used by the Matthews Football League. These are open to revision.

Contents

Rule One: Money

There is no money involved with this league. There are no entry fees, no transaction fees, and no prizes. Side bets by owners are allowed.

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Rule Two: The Draft

This league is a perennial league. Players are kept from one year to the next, giving some sense of continuity. Each team will be allowed to protect nine players before each year's draft. The remaining players are released and may be acquired through normal drafting methods.

Annual drafts will be structured as dictated by the needs of the league, but will adhere to the same basic format from year to year. In a normal year, the draft will consist of nine rounds. Beginning in 1997, draft order will be determined by the number of points scored by a team during the season. The team with the fewest total points each season drafts first each round, etc. For more information on the structure of the league's next draft, contact the commissioner.

Annual drafts are conducted via e-mail. At the start of each round, the commissioner will send out the drafting order. Owners have 24 hours (beginning with at the time they are notified of their turn, not at the time that they read the e-mail) with which to make their selection(s), though faster selection is encouraged. Each owner has the option of either (a) waiting for his turn to make a selection or (b) submitting a set of instructions to the commissioner detailing his pick(s). For example, if Fred is going on vacation, he might send a message saying, "I'd like QB-Moon(MIN) as my pick in the fourth round, unless there have been ten running backs picked. In that case, I'd like the wide receiver with the most touchdowns last year that hasn't been picked.", etc. This kind of thing will be especially valuable in expediting later rounds. If the draft is taking too long, the commissioner will expedite it in some fashion.

At the conclusion of the draft, each owner will have eighteen players on his roster. These rosters must be reduced to seventeen players by the first kickoff of the second week, sixteen players by the first kickoff of the third week, and to a final number of fifteen players by the first kickoff of the fourth week.

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Rule Three: Starting Lineups

Each franchise owner shall submit a starting lineup to the commissioner prior to the kickoff of the first NFL game of the week (sometimes on a Thursday or a Saturday). If no lineup is submitted, it shall be assumed to be the same as the previous week's lineup.

A starting lineup must be one of two valid formations. The first, the Pro Set, is a standard lineup consisting of one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker, and one defense/special teams unit. The second, the Single Back formation, consists of one quarterback, one running back, three wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker, and one defense/special teams unit.

There are three valid means of submitting a lineup. First (and preferred), is via e-mail. The time/date stamp placed on your message by you mailer will be the official time of submission. Second, phone the commissioner with your lineup. On Sunday mornings, the answering machine will take your call and place a time/date stamp on the message. Finally, you may submit your lineup in person IN WRITING at which time the commissioner will note the time and date on the piece of paper. These are the ONLY valid means of submitting lineups (or trades or free agent acquisitions).

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Rule Four: Scoring

The following actions score the allotted number of points for a fantasy player, regardless of the player's position:

Passing

Touchdown 3 points

2-pt conversion 1 point

Each 50 yards 1 point

Receiving

Touchdown 3 points

2-pt conversion 1 point

Each 33 yards 1 point

Rushing

Touchdown 6 points

2-pt conversion 2 points

Each 25 yards 1 point

Kicking

Field goal 3 points

Extra point 1 point

The following defensive/special teams actions SUBTRACT the allotted number of points from you OPPONENT'S fantasy team:

Defense/Special Teams

Touchdown 6 points

Safety 2 points

Take away(INT/FREC) 2 point

Sack 1 point

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Rule Five: Injured Reserve

A franchise's roster shall consist of fifteen players (gradually reduced from eighteen at the start of the season--see rule two). This should be sufficient space to keep a couple of injured players, if needed. Thus, there will be no injured reserve list. The commissioner expects the lack of an injured reserve list to cut down on a LOT of paperwork that gave him headaches in previous years. If a player (even an injured player) has value to a fantasy team, he should take up a roster slot.

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Rule Six: Trades

If two or more franchise owners wish to trade players (or draft picks), they may do so. A trade becomes official when ALL parties involved have contacted the commissioner to verify the terms of the deal AND the commissioner has approved the trade (see rule eight). No trades will be permitted after 12:01 p.m. Pacific November 1st. Trading resumes 12:01 p.m. Pacific January 1st.

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Rule Seven: Free Agents

If a player isn't on a fantasy team, he is considered a free agent available on the waiver wire. Free agents may be acquired beginning at 12:01 p.m. Pacific each Tuesday. It's first-come, first-served (with no limit) until the kickoff of the first NFL game of the week.

For each player obtained via waivers, a player must first be released (unless the acquiring team has less than a full roster). The newly released player may then be picked up by ANY team the FOLLOWING week. All owners must be informed that a player has been waived BEFORE any team can acquire that player. Signed free agents MUST stay on the new roster for four days (96 hours).

All rosters are frozen (no players may be added, though drops may occur) beginning at 12:01 p.m. Pacific December 1st. They remain frozen until the completion of the draft the following season.

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Rule Eight: Anti-Weasel Clause

Any trade that's agreed upon and intended purpose is to strengthen one team at the expense of the other can be over-turned by the league commissioner. Note that I do not use this rule maliciously or to help my own team. I only use it to prevent really stupid trades (e.g. Steve Young and Jerry Rice traded for Johnny Johnson and Boomer Esiason).

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Rule Nine: Schedule

The schedule and division alignments shall be prepared by the league commissioner (who has a strong predisposition toward geographic alignment in divisions). The teams shall play a 14 game regular season, playing non-division foes once and division opponents twice. Each team will also play four non-conference games.

At the end of the season, the two best teams from each division shall meet in a divisional playoff. The two divisional champions in each conference will meet for a conference championship. Fianally, the conference champions will meet in the league championship match, also known as the Kirk Cup (in reference to the trophy which is awarded to the winner of the match).

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Rule Ten: End-of-the-year Tie breakers

The following is the tie breaking scheme should two or more teams have identical records at the end of the season. Ties inside divisions shall be broken first (with the winner of that tie breaker advancing to the next tie, if applicable). Tied games count as half a win and half a loss (7-5-2 is the same as 8-6-0).

Tie breakers

1. Head-to-head record record

2. Division record

3. Most Points Scored

4. Most Points Scored vs. others in tie

5. Coin flip

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Rule Eleven: Playoff Tie breakers

For playoff games, coaches submit a tie breaker order for their non-starters (if they don't submit a lineup, their backups are ordered alphabetically). In the event the teams tie, the overtime players are compared against each other one at a time until a winner emerges, with all points from the tallied backups being applied to the regulation score. If the tie still stands, the home team (the team with the better record) receives one extra point and advances.

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Rule Twelve: Expansion

During the 1996 season, the Matthews Football League (formerly the Oregon Football League) will expand by four teams. These teams will be owned primarily by previous participants in the now-defunct Custom Box Football League. They will participate in an expansion draft as outlined via e-mail.

Following this expansion, which was instigated by commissioner fiat, no expansion will occur without a UNANIMOUS vote by the existing owners regarding all aspects of the proposed expansion. This rule is being implemented in response to concerns raised by a couple of owners.

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Rule Thirteen: The Commissioner

J.D. is the league commissioner. As such, he shall prepare reports weekly and distribute them in a timely manner to all franchise owners. All trades, transactions, and other information MUST be reported to him in order to be officially recorded.

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Rule Fourteen: Team Names

Team names must be approved by the commissioner. Teams must be located in a city, town, neighborhood, or other geographic region (e.g. Portland, Canby, Bronx, Rocky Mountain) and have semi-plausible mascots. The Gainesville Goat-Ropers, San Diego Sperm, and Birmingham Bad-Ass Caterpillars are all examples of unacceptable names. The two current borderline names are Tennessee Dead and Seattle Slayers.

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Rule Fifteen: Rule Changes

These rules may be revised and added to during the season by unanimous vote of all team owners (or commissioner fiat). During the off season, a simple majority vote (or commissioner fiat) is required to alter rules.

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Rule Sixteen: Waiting List

The commissioner will maintain a waiting list of potential owners. This list will be used if an existing club folds or an owner is forced to depart. If an owner is forced to give up his club, he or she may opt to "sell" it to someone of their choice. If they do not choose somebody, the first person on the waiting list will be offered the club.

The waiting list will ESSENTIALLY operate in a first-come, first-served type of an order. However, just as potential owners were required to apply for spot in this league when it began (by answering a small series of questions), so too will the people on the waiting list be screened. Their answers will determine their placement on the list.

Former owners that have participated in the MFL (or a related league) will automatically be placed at the top of the waiting list. Ties among former owners will be broken based on the year that they first owned a franchise. Therefore, if someone from Matthews Hall's original group of owners requests a franchise, he moves to the top of the waiting list.

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