Jr. Cardinals Calgary League Policies

These policies apply to the 2027 Calgary Jr. Cardinals Flag Football League at both sites: North, Saturdays in the northwest, and South, Sundays in the southeast. Every family agrees to them at registration. Questions go to flag@rawsports.ca.

Medical coverage

An athletic therapist is on site at every Jr. Cardinals gameday, at both sites, with first aid supplies, ice and emergency equipment on hand.

If an injury happens

If your athlete is hurt, our athletic therapist looks after them, and for serious injuries we call 911. Our athletic therapist decides when an injured player can return to play. Nobody else makes that call, including the coach. Suspected concussions follow the stricter rule below.

Concussion

When in doubt, sit them out. We follow the Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport.

• If a concussion is suspected, the athlete is removed from play immediately and does not return that day.
• The athlete should be assessed by a medical doctor or nurse practitioner.
• Before they play again, we need a Medical Clearance Letter from a medical doctor or nurse practitioner, emailed to flag@rawsports.ca.

This applies regardless of how the athlete feels, how important the game is, or what the athlete or their parent would prefer. There is no exception to this. Coaches are not permitted to make a return-to-play decision themselves.

Mouthguards

Every athlete wears a mouthguard, supplied by the family, and nobody plays without one. The front desk at each site sells spares, so no athlete is ever turned away for forgetting one.

Who is on the sideline

Every coach in the league passes a criminal record and vulnerable sector check before their first session, and a coach who has not completed theirs does not work a gameday. Checks are renewed every three years. Coaches are never one on one with an athlete out of sight of other adults.

Insurance and waiver

Every registered athlete is insured through Football Alberta. The league submits its final roster to Football Alberta before the season begins.

You sign the RAW Sports liability waiver during checkout, before your registration is complete.

Treat all athletes, coaches, officials and participants with fairness and respect, regardless of gender, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, economic status or athletic ability.

For athletes

• Show up ready to work and ready to be coached.
• Treat teammates, opponents, coaches and referees with respect, in wins and in losses.
• Officials’ calls are final. Disagreement is fine. Arguing is not.
• Look after the jersey, belt and mouthguard, and bring them every gameday.
• No bullying, no taunting, no physical aggression, ever.

For parents and spectators

Your athlete takes their cues from you.

• Do not coach from the sideline. One voice is enough, and it belongs to the coach.
• Do not address referees. Most of ours are young and learning. If you have a concern about officiating, raise it with RAW Sports staff after the game, not across the field during it.
• Concerns about your athlete’s coach, playing time or team go to RAW Sports staff on site or to flag@rawsports.ca, not to the coach mid-gameday and not into the team group chat.
• No abuse of officials, coaches, athletes or other families. This is the one rule with no warning attached.

When conduct falls short

Issues are reviewed by the RAW Sports Discipline and Risk Management Committee. Depending on severity, the response is a conversation, a formal warning, removal from a gameday, or removal from the league.

Removal for conduct does not carry a refund.

• Divisions follow the NFL FLAG age windows, which run August to August, not by calendar year. The windows are in the table below.
• Playing up is allowed with our approval. Email flag@rawsports.ca before you register and tell us why. Playing down is never permitted.
• Teams are built from Draft Day ratings so they come out evenly matched, inside your conference.
• Playing time. Through the regular season, every athlete gets roughly even playing time, and coaches work to get the ball to every player every game. In the playoffs, no athlete plays more than 70% of a game and no athlete plays less than 30%.
• One friend request per athlete. We do our best to accommodate it where it keeps teams balanced, but it is not guaranteed, and it cannot cross conferences.
• Every division has a cap. Once a division fills at your site, registration for it closes.
• Conferences. You choose North or South at checkout. A change after that has to go through us, because it changes your order: email flag@rawsports.ca.

Division	Born between
U6	Aug 2, 2021 to Aug 1, 2023
U8	Aug 2, 2019 to Aug 1, 2021
U10	Aug 2, 2017 to Aug 1, 2019
U12	Aug 2, 2015 to Aug 1, 2017
U14	Aug 2, 2013 to Aug 1, 2015
U16	Aug 2, 2011 to Aug 1, 2013
Girls U18	Aug 2, 2009 to Aug 1, 2011

Rules of play

Official NFL FLAG 5 on 5. No tackling, no blocking, every player eligible. Games are two 20-minute halves with a running clock that stops only for injuries. U6 and U8 play a house rule with no no-run zones. Rosters cap at 12. The full 2027 Calgary rule sheet is published before the season starts.

We play outdoors, in Calgary, in May and June. Rain, wind and cold are part of the season and we play through them.

• Field closures are the facility’s call, not ours, and they are binding.
• Lightning, wildfire smoke or extreme heat: our Site Lead stops play immediately, together with the athletic therapist, and play only resumes once they agree conditions are safe.
• Stopping play is an on-field safety call. Delaying, shortening or cancelling the gameday itself is a RAW Sports decision, made as early as we can make it.
• You will hear from us directly. We message every affected family and coach as soon as the call is made. Only the affected conference is messaged: a Saturday closure in the North does not change the South’s Sunday.
• There is one make-up weekend in the season, July 3 and 4. It is booked at both sites and otherwise kept empty. If weather costs a gameday earlier in the season, it is replayed there. If nothing is lost, nobody plays and the long weekend stays free.
• A gameday replayed on the make-up weekend does not count toward standings or playoff seeding, because the playoffs are already seeded on June 26 and 27. Your athlete still gets their games. Seeding is worked out from the games actually played.
• Beyond that one weekend, a lost gameday is not replayed, refunded or credited. You would still have 17 games instead of 19.
• Championship Day, Saturday July 10, has no rain date. It goes ahead in rain and cold. Only lightning, smoke or a facility closure stops play. If the day cannot be played outdoors, we move to an indoor venue in a reduced format, and we tell you by a set time that morning at the latest.

Draft Day, Saturday March 20 2027, is the first session of the season. The refund tiers below are built off that date. The administration fee is $75, under the company-wide RAW Sports refund policy, and it covers payment processing and handling. Refunds taken as RAW credit never carry a fee.

Request received	Cash	RAW Sports credit
On or before March 6, 2027	Full, less the $75 administration fee	100%, fee waived
March 7 to March 19	50%	100%
March 20 to your second gameday (May 8 North, May 9 South)	None	RAW credit for the sessions remaining
After your second gameday	None	None

• Injury is handled separately. With a doctor’s note received within 14 days, we credit every session missed from the date you tell us, with no fee. If the note confirms your athlete cannot return for the rest of the season, you may instead take a cash refund for those sessions, less the $75 fee.
• Missed gamedays. We cannot refund an individual gameday. Missing one does not cost your athlete their spot or their playing time.
• Weather cancellations are not refunded or credited. See Section 4.
• Removal for conduct does not carry a refund. See Section 2.

Refunds return to the original payment method. All requests in writing to flag@rawsports.ca.

Separation Wednesdays (the add-on)

The $400 Wednesday add-on is a separate program with its own dates, so it has its own tiers. They are keyed to the first Wednesday session, not to Draft Day. Ten sessions are scheduled, so credit ends once a quarter of them have run.

Request received	Cash	RAW Sports credit
14 days or more before the first session	Full, less the $75 administration fee	100%, fee waived
Inside 14 days, up to the first session	50%	100%
After the first session, up to the second	None	RAW credit for the sessions remaining
After the third session	None	None

• One administration fee per withdrawal, not per product. If you withdraw from the league and the add-on at the same time, you pay the $75 fee once, not twice.
• Withdrawing from the league withdraws you from the add-on, because it is league players only. The add-on is refunded at whichever tier above applies on the day you tell us.
• A cancelled Wednesday session is handled the same way as a gameday. See Section 4.

Jersey sizes

You select your athlete’s jersey size at registration and that size is final. Every jersey is ordered in a single bulk order, and once it is placed we cannot exchange, resize or reprint. There is a sizing chart on the registration page: check it before you pick, and if you are unsure, size up.

Size changes close on February 1, 2027. Email flag@rawsports.ca before then. After that the order is locked.

We have a photo and video crew at both sites through the season. League photos and video may be used to promote RAW Sports and the Jr. Cardinals league.

At checkout you will be asked whether your athlete may appear in league photos and video. The answer you give there is the one we follow, and it overrides the generic media waiver. If you would rather your athlete not appear, say so at checkout or email flag@rawsports.ca, ideally before Draft Day on March 20. Opted-out athletes wear a wristband at every gameday so our crew knows to leave them out.

We play at one site in the northwest and one in the southeast. Both bookings are conditional on how we treat them, and breaking a facility’s rules puts the league’s booking at risk for the following season. Exact sites, field assignments and playing times are confirmed once our bookings are settled, and no later than Draft Day.

• No alcohol and no cannabis on or near either site.
• No smoking or vaping at the fields, on the sidelines or in the warm-up areas. Calgary bylaw prohibits it within five metres of a sports field, and we ask you to keep well back from that.
• Keep dogs off the playing fields, including the sidelines and warm-up areas.
• Park only in marked stalls. Do not block gates, access lanes or neighbouring residents’ driveways.
• Take your garbage with you. Both sites are shared with other user groups on the same weekend.
• Treat the facility, the turf, the grass and the equipment with respect. Damage is billed to the league.