Laws and Rules
Soccer is played in accordance with Laws of the Game set internationally by FIFA plus local rules set by the national governing body (Football Federation Australia - FFA) and the local competition administrator (Football Federation Victoria - FFV).
Online Laws of the Game
FIFA's Laws of the Game can be found here:
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/81/42/36/lawsofthegame_2011_12_en.pdf
Learning the Laws - Highly Recommended!
FFA has set up great FREE online course for parents, players and coaches to learn the Laws of the Game - and, if you want to go on it gives the start point for becoming a referee. But in any case it's a really useful knowledge base for anyone involved in the game.
To do the course you have to log in and then do a set of workbooks which each have a little test at the end. Each workbook gives you details of a Law, explains the the law and most have a video to watch. The time taken to do the workbooks varies - some take 5 minutes, some take 15 minutes. It's not something you can do all in one go but you can log out and come back to it when you have time.
Once you have done all the workbooks you can do a test (multiple choice style) and when you pass the test you get a certificate saying you have completed the basic study that allows you to sign up to do a referees course.
To sign up for the course go to:
https://laws.myfootballclub.com.au/
Players aged from 13 upwards can also be referees and still keep playing and earn some money every weekend refereeing matches before or after their own games. Same for parents. To learn more about being an official referee go to:
https://www.footballvictoria.com.au/resources/referees/become-a-referee
Rules of Competition
As well as the laws of the Game, every league has local rules set by its competition administrator. The rules have to be consistent with the overall Laws. They go into additional detail about such things as the length of the match, the number of substitutes, how the competition is organised etc etc.
The Rules of Competition for the leagues that Kensington Junior SC plays in are set by Football Victoria.
Juniors (Under 12 to Under 18 leagues) have a competition ladder, Football Victoria appointed referees (where available) and observe offside rules, therefore each team has to provide an assistant referee to run the line.
Miniroos (u11 and below) do not record scores or have a competition ladder. the home team provides referees and the rules are simpler (e.g. no offside).
