FCArmstrong

Dateline: 24 November 2025

Referee rule number one for indoor season– know the house rules. Since at 2008 US Futsal leagues in Pittsburgh have played in the same building. Some seasons there were two courts, others there were three. Some years the bathroom toilets would flush. Then there was the year where the HVAC system was broken and torpedo heaters were brought inside.

In 2025, the ownership of the ProSports Monroeville facility, relocated the US Futsal League to their other facility–All American Field House five minutes away off of Racquet Lane. Instead of playing on plastic sport courts, we are now playing on basketball courts. We now have hanging scoreboards instead of tabletop scoreboards. The ceiling may be a little lower, but this is futsal–the ball should move on the ground and quickly. There is a parent shooting gallery for any parent who chooses to with sit directly behind the goal.

Ball in or out of play.

House rule number one in this facility is similar to what we do at Spooky Nook on the basketball courts. Since there is no actual touchline, we will assume the futsal touchline is just inside the blue basketball border. The ball will be considered out of play when the whole ball is in the blue basketball court border.

Kick-In restarts.

Ball placement and foot placement.

In US Futsal kick-ins are used to restart the game for any ball out of play over the touchline. To correctly take a kick-in, the kicker must a)place the ball on the touchline or behind the touchline; b) have the plant foot either on the touchline or behind the touchline; c) kick the ball in within the four second count. Referee guidance suggests placing the ball on the line with your hand- to ensure everybody can tell when the ball is placed and ensure there is no confusion with a double touch on the kick in restart. In US Futsal play, kick-ins are indirect restarts.

Since All American Courts do not have actual touchlines, we will use the border of the blue for ball placement and foot faults. If any part of the ball is touching the blue for placement you are good. In order to ensure you are not in the field of play when planting your plant foot for kick ins, we will consider any part of the foot touching the blue is good.

Defender required distance from kick in.

Since our courts are also used for volleyball, we have a visual 3m distance mark for kick ins–the volleyball court.

Kick-offs

In US Futsal the kick-off starts the game, half, and after any goal is scored. In US Futsal, kick-offs are indirect. The defenders are required to be 3m from ball. Since All American Fieldhouse courts have basketball circles and a volleyball court, the 3m distance is approximately at the volleyball attack line. For practical purposes with the clock programming, the lead official should be lined up at the 3m mark directly in front of the ball to assist the defenders in finding the center/circle/distance. Unfortunately on the sides the 3m distance doesn’t have an actual line to help, but in most cases the main defender is directly in front of the ball. Due to the clocks and scores board being table top controlled, we will assign all kick-off whistles to the referee not working the clock.

Penalty Area and Penalty Spot

During gameday one, there were some issues during the run of play with only a 5m Penalty Area. Some of the issues at younger levels were due to the color used on the penalty area inside the basketball paint. At the older levels, that 1m differential impacted goal keeper sliding challenges and normal release of run of play throws.