Too many men
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Too many men is a penalty that may be called in various team sports when the team has more players on the field or other playing area than are allowed by the rules. Penalties vary from one sport to the next.
Hockey
Too many men on the ice is a bench penalty in ice hockey called when a team has more than the legal number of players (six, including the goalie, if not already short handed) on the ice at one time. This term is normally used even in women's ice hockey. The punishment for this penalty is two minutes in the penalty box served by the player chosen by the offending coach from one of his players on the ice at the time of the penalty.
While this penalty can sometimes result from an improper line change, it occurs most commonly when a player comes onto the ice during a line change and touches the puck before the player he is replacing leaves the ice.
American football
If a team has more than eleven players on the field during a play (called either too many men on the field or twelfth man on the field), the offending team is penalized five yards. This is usually the result of an improper substitution.
Canadian football
If a team has more than twelve players on the field during a play (called either too many men on the field or thirteenth man on the field), the offending team is penalized five yards. This is usually the result of an improper substitution. The 2009 Grey Cup game in the CFL was decided on a too-many-men call.
Lacrosse
Similar to hockey, too many men is a minor penalty in lacrosse, and a player from the offending team is sent to the penalty box.
Basketball
Professional and collegiate basketball (both men's and women's) limit teams to five players on the court at any one time. A team with more than five in play at once is assessed a technical foul for Too Many Players on the Court. National Basketball Association rules did not allow for the nullification of a goal scored with too many players until a rule change in March 2009. [1]
Association Football
In Association Football, if a team is found to have more than 11 players on the field, the referee must determine which is the extra player, and the player so determined is given a yellow card.
Australian rules football
In Australian rules football, a team with more than eighteen players on the field has its entire score from before the offence annulled, except if the team scored zero points. Because of the severity of the penalty, the umpire must count the players, and this can only be done after a request from the captain. The only well-documented case where a team had its entire score annulled this way occurred in an Under 19 game between Richmond and Carlton in August 1971, and resulted from a mistaken signal by a trainer whereby a substitute entered the game before the player he was to replace had left. Established procedures for declaring initial team lineups combined with an established and well-enforced interchange protocol serve to limit the possibility of too many players being on the field at once. In most cases, the violation is detected at the point of interchange and action can be taken quickly by umpires to limit the impact and punish the offending team.
