Players must play in their own age grade unless permitted to play outside their age grade in the limited circumstances set out in the regulations. For safety and retention purposes players should always play in their defined age/year group where possible. Regulation 15.3 (Playing Up) and 15.4 (Playing Down) permit individual players for whom it may be more appropriate, to play above or below their defined age group. Certain age grades are permitted to play up one or two age grades for training and playing if recommended by the player’s club, school or college as set out in the table at Regulation 15.5.
This is different from combining a whole age group of players, it is player specific. The conditions in the regulations must be read in detail and met in full.
Age Grade players are automatically assigned to a team under the 'Team Management' module in GMS in correlation to their date of birth to the ‘All Club Players’ list. As a club, you could also assign a player to a ‘Playing Squad’ if they are playing outside the ‘age category by using ‘Add Player’. For this to be actioned please note the following:
In relation to Article 15 of RFU Regulation a consent form needs to be filled out for players to request permission to play out of Age Grade. Please follow the link to find the correct form:
https://www.englandrugby.com/governance/rules-and-regulations/regulations
Note: Forms are only valid for one season, so they will need a new form completed annually as the AG players will need to be manually assigned to the Age Grade team each new season. If the player is playing down an age grade, the player must remain in that lower age grade for the entire Season.
Please see our guide on Assigning a player to a team if you are unsure of how to complete this.