CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE BURY AND DISTRICT

CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE BURY AND DISTRICT

TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE

1. Name. The League shall be called "The Bury and District Table Tennis League".

2. Constitution.

(a) Membership shall be open to such Clubs affiliated to the E.T.T.A. as the Management Committee may approve.

(b) The purpose of the League is to promote the sport of table-tennis in and around the Bury area.

(c) The League may only be dissolved at a properly convened General Meeting and if no less than three-quarters of those present and voting agree to the dissolution.

(d) In the event of dissolution, after settling all the liabilities of the League the Committee shall not distribute the remaining assets to members of the League but shall transfer them to some other voluntary organisation having similar objectives to the League.

3. Subscriptions. The annual subscription shall be £30 per team. All clubs shall pay their subscription by the 30th September in each season. Any Club not paying their subscription by this date shall be fined £5 for each month and part of a month that it remains unpaid. If any subscription remains unpaid on the 31st December, that Club shall be expelled from the League for the following season.

4. Officers.

(a) The Officers of the League shall be President, Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Match Secretary, Tournament Secretary and, if deemed necessary, Coaching Officer.

(b) Honorary Life Members may be elected by the Management Committee.

5. Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting of the League shall be held as soon after the end of April in each calendar year as is feasible and all registered players of the League shall be entitled to attend. Each Club shall have one vote at this meeting. The Officers mentioned in Rule 4(a) shall be elected at such an Annual General Meeting together with a Management Committee to be made up of Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Match Secretary, Tournament Secretary, Inter-League Secretaries, Coaching Officer (if elected), plus five members elected by the Annual General Meeting. Five people entitled to vote shall form a quorum at the Annual General Meeting. A Club failing to be represented shall be fined £5.

6. Meetings. A Meeting shall be held prior to the beginning of the season for collection of handbooks and any relevant information for the new season, at which all clubs shall be entitled to one vote.

7. Alteration of Rules. No alteration of, or amendment to, or revision of the Rules of the League shall be made except at the Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting expressly called for that purpose. Any proposed alteration to the Rules must be notified in writing to the Secretary at least twenty-one days before the Meeting and shall be circulated to all Clubs at least fourteen days before the meeting.

8. League Rules.

(a) The League shall consist of as many divisions as are deemed appropriate by the Management Committee with as many teams in each division as the Management Committee deem appropriate.

(b) Each Club shall register with the Match Secretary sufficient players to enable it to run the team or teams entered, these players to be registered in strict order of playing ability. All players to be registered with the Match Secretary at least the day before taking part in any match. No player shall be allowed to take part in a match unless that player has made a payment of £5 (Seniors) or £2 (Juniors, i.e. players under 17 years of age on the 30th June prior to the commencement of the season). This payment will entitle the player to enter the end of the season Bury Closed Championships at no cost, as long as the qualification requirements have been met. The registration of any player shall be subject to the approval of the Management Committee, and in particular, the registration of any player after 31st January in any season shall only be approved specifically by the Management Committee at their next scheduled meeting. Clubs must supply to the League or Match Secretary ETTA personal data in respect of all their registered players.

(c) Players shall be ranked in order of playing ability and such ranking lists shall be subject to the acceptance of the Management Committee. Players ranked 1 to 3 constitute the first team: Players ranked 4 to 6 shall constitute the second team, and so on according to the number of teams entered. A player may assist a higher team than that for which he is ranked, but may not play for a lower. Any team playing an ineligible player shall be fined £3 for each player and, at the discretion of the Management Committee, may forfeit the match except in the case of a cup match which will be forfeited. If a regular player or reserve is not available for a match, a guest player will be allowed to play. The guest player will be a registered club player not eligible for that team and his or her games would not count.

(d) The Management Committee shall have power, if they consider a player is not playing frequently for a Club, to co-rank that player at a position in the Club's ranking list equal with another player or players.

(e) A registered player who wishes to transfer to another Club shall make application to the Match Secretary who shall place such application before the next meeting of the Management Committee. If the Management Committee approves such an application the player will be permitted to play for his new Club in the week after permission has been granted. Not more than one transfer per player per season will be considered.

(f) All matches should be played on the date stated in the handbook.

Matches may only be postponed if:

(i) the home team's room is unavailable or

(ii) a player of either team is required for a Bury League representative match or

(iii) there are exceptional circumstances approved by the Emergency Committee

Every effort must be made to re-arrange the match. The options are:

(i) both club secretaries agree on a new date; this date to be no later than the last week of scheduled League matches or the scheduled date of the return fixture, whichever is earlier

(ii) amalgamate the match with the return fixture in the second half of the season and play for double points and double wins. This will apply to any first-half match that has not been played by the scheduled date of the return fixture.

If a postponed match is not re-arranged in accordance with this rule then the Match Secretary may specify a date and venue for the match, after consultation with the club secretaries.

If the match is still not played then the Committee may award the points and wins to either or neither team and impose a fine of £15 on either or both teams.

(g) It shall be the responsibility of a Club changing its Secretary, Headquarters or Match Night, or the Secretary changing his or her address, to notify in writing the Secretary and the Match Secretary and the Secretary of each Club in the division or divisions to which they are attached whose teams they still have to play at home. Where a club changes its headquarters or match night, all opponents for home Cup matches must be sent a reminder at least 7 days and not more than 10 days before the Fixture. No one person shall be the secretary of more than one club at any one time.

(h) Should a team resign from the League after their entry has been accepted the Management Committee may impose a fine, make any adjustments to the league tables it considers appropriate and may suspend any regular players for that team for the rest of that season.

(i) All matches are to commence not later than 7.30 p.m.; two players must be in attendance by 7.45 p.m. and the third player by 8.00 p.m. In the event of the non-arrival of players by these times, the opposing team may claim the sets of the absent players. If no player is in attendance by 8.00 p.m., the match may be claimed. Any one player with a reason acceptable to the opposing team may play if in attendance by 9.15 p.m., but the score card must be endorsed with the time of arrival and the reason for lateness and the opponents must also be told by 7.30 p.m. All sets must be completed and any player not completing all his sets may be subject to disciplinary action, in addition to his club, by the Management Committee. Any team not fielding three players in any match shall be fined £3 for each player missing.

The team whose players were present on time in the circumstances described in this rule may choose to regard the match as postponed rather than claim it, in which case the provisions of rule 8(f) will apply.

(j) Score cards with the result of the match must be forwarded by the home Club to the Match Secretary. All cards must either bear a postmark within 48 hours of the match or be delivered by hand within 72 hours of the match, otherwise a fine of £2 will be imposed. Sunday shall be ignored for all purposes of this rule. If a score card is submitted with the scores filled in for a player who was not actually present, each team shall be fined £5 and the two players signing the card shall be suspended for one match. If the card is not signed by a team, the suspension shall apply to all players of that team present during the match.

If a player is proved to have played under a false name, that team shall be fined £15 and all players who took part in that match for that team shall be suspended for two matches.

All suspensions are to commence on the Monday of the week following the decision by the Management Committee

(k) The divisions shall play their matches as follows:

(i) In divisions of 8 teams or less, each team shall play all other teams in its division three times in each season, at least once at home and at least once away. In divisions of more than 8 teams, each team shall play all other teams in its division twice in each season, once at home and once away.

(ii) Teams shall consist of not less than three players nor more than five players. The three players for singles shall play each member of the other side one set. In addition two players (not necessarily the same as in singles) shall play a doubles match against two players of the other side, one set.

(iii) The sets shall be played in the following order:

1 v 2; 3 v 1; 2 v 3; 3 v 2; 1 v 3; D; 2 v 1;

3 v 3; 2 v 2; 1 v 1; home team first in each case.

If a match is played out of score card order through an acceptable reason, the order shall be decided by the opponents of the team causing the match to be played out of order.

If both teams agree, the doubles may be played as the last set of the match.

(iv) The home captain shall write the names of his team on the score card before the opponents.

(v) Umpires shall be agreed upon mutually and the Umpire's decision on all points shall be final.

(l) A Top Ten competition shall be held for each division whereby each player is awarded one win for every singles win in league matches whether awarded or played. The winner shall be the player with the most number of wins each season. In the event of two players finishing with an equal number of wins, the player with the least defeats shall be adjudged the winner and in the event of continued equality a play-off over five games shall be arranged by the Management Committee to decide the winner.

If a match is awarded to a team under Rule 8(f) then this team must submit a scorecard recording the results. The players named on the scorecard will be credited with wins for the purposes of the Top Ten competition.

If sets or a match are claimed under Rule 8(i) then the players present will be credited with wins for the purposes of the Top Ten competition.

Defeats will not be recorded against any player under the provisions of Rules 8(f) and (i).

(m) In a match a team shall be credited with one point for each set won, each such point to count in the league table. At the end of the season the top two teams shall be promoted and the bottom two teams relegated. In the event of a tie on points the deciding factors shall be, in order of precedence:

(i) matches won

(ii) matches lost (the fewer losses determining the higher league position)

(iii) the aggregate result of the home and away fixtures between the teams involved.

If there is still a tie, a play-off over nine sets shall take place between the teams on a neutral table to be decided by the Management Committee. In any event, at the start of the season, the Management Committee will consider all accepted entries and will allocate the teams to such divisions as they deem fit. All applications for a new season shall be accompanied by a list of the players who it is intended shall play for that club in ranking order. After a team has been allocated to a particular division, the Management Committee shall have the power to refuse the registration of a player who has proven ability at a higher level than the division to which his team has been allocated.

(n) The current laws of table tennis as adopted by the E.T.T.A. shall apply to all matches in the League.

(o) Cup Competitions. The draw for each round of each cup shall be drawn by at least two nominated member of the Committee. Those clubs who have submitted an official e-mail address shall be notified of the full draw at least 10 days before the commencement of the next round. Other clubs shall be notified by post. The following rules mentioned above shall apply to the competitions: 8(b); 8(c); 8(d); 8(f); 8(g); 8(i); 8(j); 8(k) (ii) and (iii) (except that no doubles shall be played) (iv) and (v); 8(n). No player may represent more than one Club in a season in any of the competitions. No player may play in the semi-final or final of any competition unless he or she has played five league matches for that club by the first Friday after 31 January or other date specified by the Management Committee, with only matches scheduled to take place by that date being taken into account. In the case of the lowest ranked team in a club, or a club with only one team, someone who has not played five matches may be allowed to play in a semi-final or final subject to the prior approval of the Management Committee.

The cup competitions shall be:

Dwyer Cup - for all teams in the league competition and shall be played on a handicap basis whereby each player shall receive a number of points start in each game, the handicap to be decided by the Management Committee prior to first round.

MacDonald Cup - for first and second division teams and shall be played on a handicap basis whereby each player shall receive a number of points start in each game, the handicap to be decided by the Management Committee prior to first round.

Poytress Cup - for third, fourth and fifth division teams and shall be played on a handicap basis whereby each player shall receive a number of points start in each game, the handicap to be decided by the Management Committee prior to first round

All cup finals shall commence at 7.30 p.m. and shall be played in exact score card order with any player forfeiting the set if not available when called upon to play.

(p) In order to take part in any end of season tournament, a player must have played 5 league matches by the closing date for the receipt of entries. In the case of any Divisional Championships, the league matches must have been for the same team in the division for which the player is entering. In all cases, only matches scheduled to be played before the closing date shall count towards qualification. A minimum entry of four shall be required for any event to take place. A minimum entry of two shall be required for the ladies singles event, which shall be played on a handicap basis.

(q) Any protest or appeal relating to any violation of the rules of the League shall be lodged in writing with the Match Secretary enclosing a £5 fee (which will be returned if the protest or appeal is upheld) and at the same time a full copy of the protest or appeal shall be sent to the Secretary of the opposing Club. This must take place within 7 days of the match in question having taken place, and come from the Club Secretary of the team who are putting forward the appeal.

(r) The Management Committee shall have power to fine or suspend any player for unacceptable behaviour in the course of a match.

(s) The Management Committee shall have the power to appoint any number of sub-committees to deal with any matter providing that the majority of such sub-committees shall be members of the Management Committee.

(i) In particular the Management Committee will appoint an Emergency Committee made up of three nominated and elected people, who shall discuss and rule on any matter which, in the opinion of the Chairman of the League, cannot wait until it is heard at the next scheduled Management Committee meeting. The Management Committee shall nominate and appoint a first and second reserve for the Emergency Committee who shall stand in, in order, should any of the three full Emergency Committee members be unavailable or ineligible (due to having an "interest" in the matter) to sit on a particular issue.

(ii) The Emergency Committee needs to report its conclusions at the next meeting of the Management Committee, who must uphold its decision (subject to any appeal as set out in 8(q))

(iii) Any reference to "Management Committee" in the rules also covers any sub-committees thereof.

9. Other Matters.

(a) The publication of any item in any issue of the "Bury Times" or on the League website shall be deemed to be sufficient notice to all Clubs. This shall not relieve a club of any responsibility under any of the preceding rules.

Every club should, if at all possible, provide an email address.

Emails sent to published email addresses (either clubs’ or officers’) shall be regarded as sufficient for any League rule that requires communication.

(b) In the event of any question or matter which is not provided for in these rules, the Management Committee shall deal with the matter and their decision is final.

(d) All trophies shall be returned to the League by the dates requested otherwise a fine of £2 shall be imposed on the club involved. In addition, where any trophy is returned in an unfit condition, the club shall be fined £4.

(e) Teams that win trophies must have a representative on Finals Night. Failure to attend: £10 fine.

(f) Any fine imposed under the league rules may be waived or reduced at the discretion of the Management Committee.