Individual Licensing

All individual participants must be correctly licensed with Basketball England.

Individuals must be attached to a club and placed within a team(s) in PlayHQ to participate within the YBL.

You can register as many players for a team as you wish, however, each division (Grade), will only let you play the maximum allowed in each game.

Players, coaches and team managers, must be assigned into a team on their club portal to be registered with YBL.

All officials and volunteers must register through the YBL.

The YBL does not require any player forms or registrations to be sent to the league, all players, coach, bench (team managers) and staff registrations can be checked on the PlayHQ portal.

All players participating in any YBL league or competition will require a Participant licence.

A player with a Performance licence must hold a Participant licence to play in the YBL. Performance licences are not accepted in YBL competitions as you cannot register to a YBL team with this type of licence (there is no additional cost for the Participant licence). 

Please see the Game Addendum booklet for game eligibility. Ignorance of this rule is not a mitigating circumstance for eligibility. 

Ignorance of this rule is not a mitigating circumstance for eligibility. 

Individual Licensing & Membership (BE Rule 17)

17.12.1  - Before each Match, the Club must present to the Opposing Team, if requested, the licence cards of all participants who are to compete in the Match. In addition, the licence cards of any Accompanying Delegation members must also be present for inspection. This can be done by either presenting the individual licences on a device, showing the Team ID page on HoopsHQ or printing the licences page off (in colour).

17.12.2  - Any disputes over the eligibility of a player/coach/bench personnel should be raised with the Crew Chief who has the final say on participation in the match (this cannot be done retrospectively).

17.12.3  - Teams should review the licence cards and accept the licence of the individual as proof of eligibility. Should any challenge be made to the validity of such licences, the captain should sign the scoresheet under protest and follow the protest procedure (in-line with YBL Game Regulations 2026).

17.12.4  - Before each Match, all Officials must present their licence card if requested by the teams involved. 

17.12.6 - In the event of a valid licence not being produced for a Player, Coach or Bench Personnel that person shall not be permitted to participate in the Match in question. 

Ignorance of this rule is not a mitigating circumstance for eligibility. 

Official Uniform for Officials

All floor officials and table officials should be matching in the current uniform set by YBL, or then by Basketball England.

For table officials this should be; the current 2026/2027 attire:
1. Black Officials Jacket (or BE equivalent) 
2. Black YBL Table Top (or BE Red equivalent) 
3. Black trousers, skirt, leggings or YBL shorts

4. Black socks (or of the like)
Tracksuit or shorts of any other kind are not regulation.

For referees this should include; the current 2026/2027 attire:

1. Black Officials Jacket (or BE equivalent) 

2. Black & Grey Referee Top (Standard) (or BE Nike Grey equivalent) 

3. Or, Navy & Light Blue Referee Top (Additional Choice)) (or BE Volt equivalent) 
4. Black trousers or YBL Shorts
5. Black socks (or the like)
6. Black (all over) trainers/basketball shoes

Tracksuit or shorts of any other kind are not regulation.

Payment of Officials

League requirements & payments for YBL Compeitions in the 2026/2027 Season

The YBL adheres to Basketball England’s officiating regulations including having a minimum of two table officials and two referees per-game.

These fees set out in this booklet are the standard requirement and are explained in the table below.

Our fees match the scale set by Basketball England. Officials are not permitted to request to officiate solo. Level 1 officials are not permitted to officiate on their own (BE Rule 45.3.2.)

If clubs utilise a 3PO (table or floor) officials game fee’s do not change unless prior agreement for development has been made with the club organising.

It is the responsibility of the home club to pay all officials. A payment guide can be found within the YBL Official’s Section on the website.

Any CVL event - all costs are split equally between attending teams, including the hosting team. This cost covers, venue hire and officials costs.

Neutrality of Officials
BE Rule 42

Basketball England rules state that the crew chief must be a neutral L2+ official. The YBL acknowledge that this may not always be possible. If an in-house official is appointed, it must be with the prior agreement of the opposition. Senior divisions must have two neutral officials, unless agreed by both teams. BE rules state a minimum requirement for each fixture is two referees and table officials.

Appointments of Officials

The YBL does not appoint officials for any regular season fixture i.e. home and away fixtures, for any division/cup including seniors, except YBL One.

YBL events and tournaments, (including stages of YBL Championships, where appropriate) we will only appoint officials. YBL Championships and other Finals we will appoint and pay officials.

The YBL and BE reserves the right to appoint additional referees to fixtures to form three-person officiating crews where desired.

The YBL and BE reserves the right restrict any referee from officiating in any fixture if they are not deemed competent and don’t meet the required standard. 

Live Scoring (E-Scoring)

All games in the YBL are to be Live Scored

It is the each clubs’ responsibility to make sure their squad list, players and coaches are in the team line-up ahead of the game. We follow Basketball England’s rule regarding e-Scoring. Unless contradicted here.

All games must be Live Scored using PlayHQ. The YBL shall impose a fixed penalty in accordance with these rules. You can start a session by clicking the ‘live scoring blue/red button’ button at the bottom of every YBL webpage, or the + icon at the top on your desktop.

If there is a technological problem that prevents the game being Live Scored, the only paper scoresheet permitted is the official 'YBL Emergency Scoresheet'. Any technological issues must be reported to the YBL when uploading the scoresheet in accordance with these rules.

Technical Issues and use of paperscoresheet

A legible copy of the Scoresheet, shall be uploaded via the YBL WhatsApp number - 07810146224, no later than 23:59 on the day of the game following the completion of the match. The YBL shall be entitled to impose a fixed penalty.

Where a game is not Live Scoring the home team is responsible for uploading the result to PlayHQ no later 23:59 on the day of the game. This includes the full breakdown of player points (by basket type) and fouls (by foul type).

The use of “fill-in” players on Live Scoring should not be used. The YBL will check any players who have been listed as fill-in. Any participant found not to be eligible will result in the fixture being forfeit by default.

The home team shall be responsible for ensuring the game data has been synced (if not connected to internet at time of the game) to PlayHQ no later than 23:59 on the day of the match.

One match cannot be used to produce the result for two league fixtures or a league and cup fixture. For example, where two teams are scheduled to play each other home and away in a league, they cannot agree to only play once, with the result of this match being recognised for both scheduled matches.

The YBL shall impose a fixed penalty for a breach of this policy in accordance with YBL Regulations and in-line with Basketball England Regulations. 

Officials Library