A summary of the rules for semi-finals and finals are as follows:
Knockout Semifinals: The four top teams play a single knockout round and the winner of each game will proceed to the Final. The round will be 1V4 and 2V3. In a semifinal game, in the case of goals being equal at the end of normal time two ten minute periods of extra time are played. There is a five minute break between the end of the game and the start of the first period of extra time. There is no break between the two periods of extra time. The winner is determined as follows during that extra time:
Junior Competitions (U12-U16) If goals are equal at the end of normal time, the team scoring the first goal in extra time wins and the game ceases. If there is no goal during the extra time then the team with the most corners scored in extra time wins. If corners are equal at the end of extra time the team scoring the first corner in extra time wins. If there are no corners in extra time, the team highest placed in the major competition wins.
Senior Competitions (U18 to AL): If goals are equal at the end of normal time, the team scoring the first goal in extra time wins and the game ceases. If there is no goal during the extra time then a penalty shootout is held to determine the winner.
Finals: In a Final in the case of goals being equal at the end of normal time there will be NO extra time. In Junior Finals (U12-U16) the teams are declared joint winners. In Senior Finals (U18 to AL) a penalty shootout is held to determine the winner.
Special Borrowing Rules in Semifinal Series and Finals: Note a semifinal series includes Round Robin semifinals as well as Knockout semifinals for these rules.
A team can only borrow two players in a semi-final or final (this is opposed to four during the normal season). There is NO restriction on the number of times a BORROWED player must have played to be eligible to be borrowed by a team. The overarching principle in player borrowing is that players should not be borrowed unnecessarily. Teams place great importance on the finals and there is often the temptation to borrow players for the finals to strengthen the team rather than for genuine availability reasons.
The MWFA will monitor the borrowing of players to ensure teams act in a fair and reasonable way. A player registered in a team must have played at least four games for that team to be eligible for the semifinals and finals.
A general description of the required process for re-registration: A player who has played the maximum limit of games as a Borrowed Player for a Borrowing Team in accordance with the Borrowing Eligibility Rules below, may not play for that team again in the current season as a Borrowed Player.
In order to play again with the Borrowing Team the player must be re-registered in that team by submitting the change in registered team to the MWFA in the usual manner. A player who does not re-register in this way and plays additional games for the Borrowing team above the maximum will be regarded as an ineligible player in each game above the maximum limit and may not play for any team until re-registered in the Borrowing team. If a player changes teams in such a manner they may not be borrowed by the originally registered team no matter if allowed by these rules.
There have recently been an increasing frequency of players re-registering in teams after having been borrowed four times by that team just before the finals. The Constitution has been changed to still permit this to happen for up to two players but these players count as borrowed players. As per: Any player who re-registers in a team immediately prior to a finals series (either round robin or knockout) counts towards the borrowed player quota for the team in any game they play in the finals series. If a team tries to re-register more players than the borrowing quota the EC may stop additional players re-registering unless reasonable justification can be provided.