World Lacrosse's 2026–2028 Sixes rules call for three on-field officials per game, one of them the Head Official, plus a timekeeper, two penalty timekeepers, an official scorer with at least one assistant, and a 30-second shot clock operator. Games are four 8-minute quarters on a 70 m × 36 m field, and body-checking is a major foul for both men and women. If you're running sixes on Long Island, send us the number of fields running at once, the time blocks, age groups, the rules you're playing (straight World Lacrosse or a modified version), and who's running each table. We'll quote it. Same-week and same-day requests are what we're built for.
This page is for club directors, tournament directors and facility managers putting on sixes games on Long Island. If you're staffing traditional ten-a-side spring games, start with our lacrosse referees on Long Island guide. If your event is indoors with boards, see box lacrosse referees. If a sixes event is already short, skip to the request form.
What makes sixes a different game to officiate
Sixes isn't just field lacrosse with fewer players. World Lacrosse publishes a separate rule book for it, the 2026–2028 Sixes Lacrosse Official Playing Rules, and that book covers both the women's and men's game in one document. Most rules apply to both; rules that apply only to one discipline are marked "W" or "M." For an organizer, the differences that change your staffing are:
- Six players a side. Five field players and one goalkeeper, with a maximum active roster of 12. World Lacrosse and the Olympic organizers describe a game with no specialist positions, so every player attacks and defends and play moves end to end quickly.
- A shot clock at both ends. The rule book requires two visible 30-second shot clocks, one at each end line. Someone has to run them, and the officials are responsible for signaling a violation.
- A 10-second count to cross midfield. When a team gains possession in its defensive half, the ball has to cross the center-line within 10 seconds. Officials manage this count on every change of possession.
- No body-checking. Rule 8.3.1 says body-checking an opponent in any form is strictly prohibited and penalized as a major foul, whether or not the opponent has the ball. That holds in the men's game too, which surprises players coming from boys' field lacrosse.
- Fast restarts after goals. After a goal, the goalkeeper retrieves the ball and has five seconds to be ready. Play doesn't go back to the center for a draw; draws start each quarter and overtime period.
- Short games. Regulation is four 8-minute quarters, with 2-minute breaks after the first and third quarters and a 5-minute halftime. Ties go to 3-minute overtime periods until there's a winner.
An official who works sixes regularly handles all of this without thinking. It's a different story when a field-only official is sent to a sixes field with no warning. That's why we ask which rule book and which modifications you're using before we confirm anyone.
Crew size: what the Sixes rule book says
Under World Lacrosse's Sixes rules, Rule 4.1.1 says the game is controlled by three officials, one designated Head Official. Their duties are equal, except that the Head Official's decision is final in a dispute. The officials also have authority over the table crew, and before each game they're responsible for checking that table personnel are in place and that timing and signaling equipment works. World Lacrosse's Sixes Officiating Manual is written around that three-person crew.
| Role | Number per game (World Lacrosse Sixes rules) | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| On-field officials | Three, one designated Head Official | Control play, call fouls, manage the 10-second count and shot clock violations, report fouls to the table |
| Official Timekeeper | One | Keeps the time of each quarter, intervals and timeouts; sounds the horn to resume play |
| Penalty Timekeepers | Two | Time each foul and count down the last seconds to the penalized player out loud |
| Official Scorer | One, plus at least one assistant | Records goals, assists, timeouts, fouls and each team's In-Home; tells officials when a player has three or more major fouls |
| Shot Clock Operator | One | Runs the 30-second clock; manually times and calls 10-second increments if the clocks fail |
That's a full international crew. Most local sixes events on Long Island won't put eight people around every game, and they don't have to: if you're not running a World Lacrosse–recognized event, your organizing body or event rules decide. Some local clinics and adult sixes nights choose to run two on-field officials and a smaller table. What matters is that the crew you plan for matches the rules you print on the event sheet. If you say "World Lacrosse sixes rules" and then put two officials on the field with nobody on the shot clock, every close call becomes an argument. Our how many referees does a game need guide covers the outdoor defaults for other formats.
Planning tip: Decide on your crew model before you publish the schedule. "Three officials and a full table on the championship field, two officials and a timekeeper on pool-play fields" is a perfectly workable plan. Put it in writing so teams know what to expect, and so we can staff it field by field.
Short a sixes crew this week?
Fields, time blocks, age groups and the rules you're using. We'll confirm coverage and quote it.
Request a referee →The table matters more than you'd think
In a lot of youth field games, a parent keeps the score and the officials keep the time. Sixes doesn't work well that way. Quarters are only eight minutes, the shot clock resets constantly, and penalties are timed in seconds. Under the World Lacrosse rules:
- the eligible player list has to be entered into the official scorebook or game sheet no later than 20 minutes before the game, and no changes are allowed after that;
- each team nominates an In-Home before the game, who serves certain team and goalkeeper fouls, and the scorer has to keep a record of both teams' In-Homes;
- the penalty timekeepers sit on either side of the timer's table and count down out loud, "10 seconds, 5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1, Release";
- the official scorer tracks each major foul and tells the officials when a player reaches three, which fouls them out;
- the shot clock operator runs a separate clock for the whole game, including overtime, and if the clocks fail, times it manually and calls out 10-second increments.
If you can't staff a table reliably with volunteers, add table officials to the request. A single trained timekeeper per field running the game clock and penalties, with a separate shot clock operator, removes most game-day friction. Our scorekeepers and timekeepers for hire page covers table-only bookings.
Field setup: what officials will check before the first draw
Sixes is played on a smaller field than the traditional game, and the rule book is specific about it. For World Lacrosse events and events it recognizes or approves, the field is 70 m long and 36 m wide. For other events, the rule book allows 55 to 75 m long and 35 to 55 m wide. A few other details come up on game day:
- Field markings. The rule book says that if markings don't match the field diagram, the home team's head coach is notified, there's no penalty if it's fixed before game time, and a delay or refusal to fix it can draw a penalty. Once the game starts, the field is considered accepted. Mark your fields the day before, not the morning of.
- The goal crease is a circle with a 3 m radius around each goal. The center draw circle has a 5 m radius.
- The substitution area is 10 m long and 5 m deep from the sideline, between the team bench areas. On a multi-field turf complex, make sure benches for neighboring fields aren't backed into each other's substitution areas.
- Shot clocks. Two visible 30-second clocks, one at each end. If you're using portable clocks on a multi-field site, charge and test them the night before.
- Cones at the corners and substitution area. Cheap, easy to forget, and the first thing an official will ask about.
Because the non-recognized range goes down to 55 m by 35 m, some organizers lay out more than one smaller sixes field on a single full-size turf field where the dimensions allow. That's how a sixes event gets volume, and it's also what drives officiating numbers up: two sixes fields side by side means two crews, not one. Tell us how your fields are laid out.
Rules your officials need from you in writing
Local sixes events often modify the international rules, especially for younger players. Officials will enforce what you send them. They won't invent house rules when they get there. Settle these on a one-page sheet:
- Which rule book. World Lacrosse 2026–2028 Sixes rules, with or without modifications. Say which discipline (women's, men's or both) if you're running more than one.
- Game length. If you're shortening quarters, using running time, or changing the overtime format to fit a schedule, say so. The World Lacrosse default is four 8-minute quarters with stopped time in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter.
- Timeouts. The default is one 60-second team timeout per half. Some event formats drop them for pool play.
- Equipment. The rule book has separate women's and men's equipment and stick rules. If you're running a mixed or coed sixes event, decide which equipment standard applies and print it.
- Shot clock. If you don't have clocks on every field, say who keeps the 30-second count and how it's signaled.
When to book sixes officials
| Type of event | When to request | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Weekend sixes tournament or showcase | Three to four weeks out | Multiple fields need three-person crews at the same time, plus table officials and standby |
| Weekly sixes league or clinic night | Before the season starts, as a standing block | Officials commit more easily to a fixed weekly slot than to one-off nights |
| Fall or holiday-weekend event | As soon as fields are confirmed | Football, soccer and fall-ball lacrosse are competing for the same officials. See our fall sports booking guide |
| Already short for this weekend | Now | Last-minute coverage is what EmergencyRefs is built for |
What to put in your request
The sixes requests we can confirm fastest include:
- event date, venue, and start and end times for each field;
- number of fields running at once and how they're laid out;
- age groups and discipline (girls/women's, boys/men's, or both);
- rule book and any modifications, ideally as the one-page sheet above;
- crew model per field: three officials or two, and what table help you need;
- whether the facility needs an insurance certificate from officials. Our referee insurance certificate guide explains what to ask for;
- a contact who'll be on site and can make field and weather calls.
If you only know the date and the number of fields, send that anyway. We'll call back and fill in the rest. A specific request just gets confirmed faster.
What sixes officiating costs
We don't publish a sixes rate card. The number of fields, hours, crew size, table officials, standby and how close to the date you book all change the quote. Short games and fast turnover mean a sixes event usually makes more sense to quote by field and time block than game by game. Send the details above. The quote on your request is the number to plan around. Ask on the callback how cancellations and weather changes are handled before you commit.
What we won't promise
We don't claim any league, club or governing body as a partner, and we won't promise that every field on every day can be filled from a request sent the night before. We won't tell you an official has sixes experience if they don't. If the best available official for a short-notice fill is a strong field lacrosse official who hasn't worked sixes, we'll say so on the call so you can decide. What we do is put officials on your fields for the blocks you need, with standby if you ask for it, once the request is specific enough to assign.
Running a sixes event on Long Island?
Send the fields, times and rules. Same-week and same-day requests welcome.
Request a referee →Frequently asked questions
World Lacrosse's 2026–2028 Sixes rules call for three on-field officials, one of them the Head Official, plus a timekeeper, two penalty timekeepers, an official scorer with an assistant, and a shot clock operator. Local events that aren't World Lacrosse–recognized often run two officials and a smaller table. Put your crew model on the request.
No. Rule 8.3.1 of the World Lacrosse Sixes rules says body-checking an opponent in any form is strictly prohibited and penalized as a major foul. That applies in the men's game as well as the women's. Incidental contact and legal pushes for a loose ball aren't the same thing.
Under World Lacrosse rules, four 8-minute quarters, with 2-minute breaks after the first and third quarters and a 5-minute halftime. Ties go to 3-minute overtime periods until someone leads at the end of one. Many local events shorten or modify this; print your version on the event sheet.
Often, with preparation. Sixes has its own rule book, a 30-second shot clock at each end, a 10-second count to cross midfield, no body-checking and quick restarts after goals. We ask which rules you're using so we can send officials ready for them, and we'll tell you if a short-notice fill hasn't worked sixes before.
We don't publish a rate card. Fields, hours, crew size, table officials, standby and how close to the date you book all change the quote. Send the details and the quote on your request is the number to plan around.
Rule references: World Lacrosse, 2026–2028 Sixes Lacrosse Official Playing Rules (v2, May 2026), Rules 1.1, 1.3, 1.4.3, 1.6, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.4, 6.5.7, 6.9, 6.10 and 8.3.1; World Lacrosse, Sixes Officiating Manual; World Lacrosse, "Lacrosse to return to the Olympic Games in 2028"; Olympics.com, "Olympic lacrosse format explained: What is sixes lacrosse?" Rule books change between seasons. Your event's adopted version controls.