Wilmslow And District Table
Tennis League Rules (as revised September 2020)
- Name/Affiliations
The
name of the League shall be the 'Wilmslow and District Table Tennis League' and
shall be affiliated to Table Tennis England and to the Cheshire
Table Tennis Association.
- Management
- The League shall be organised by a committee of
up to six officers (depending on whether or not the positions are
filled), namely the President, Chairman, Hon. Secretary, Hon. Treasurer,
Hon. Match Secretary and Hon. Press Secretary who shall be known as the
Management Committee.
- The decision of the Management Committee on all
matters relating to the League shall be final.
- All officers and elected members shall retire
annually but shall be eligible for re-election.
- The Management Committee shall meet regularly
during the season as deemed necessary. The Hon. Secretary shall call
meetings giving at least seven days notice. Three shall constitute a
quorum.
- The Management Committee shall have the power to
co-opt members as necessary.
- Membership
- Membership of the League shall be open to any
recognised organisation in the district. The decision to admit any club
shall be at the discretion of the Management Committee.
- All applications for membership of the League
must be sent in writing to the Secretary to be received by him or her on
a date to be decided by the Secretary. This must be accompanied by full
team details. Failure to comply by this date could result in teams being
omitted from the League.
- Divisions
The
League shall consist of one or more divisions to be decided by the Management
Committee according to the entry. The grading and number of teams in each
division shall be decided by the Management Committee.
- Teams
- A team shall consist of three players. Normally
two of these three players would make up the doubles pairing, but if
required, a fourth, and/or fifth player may play in the doubles contest.
- A club may enter any number of teams.
- When clubs are running two or more teams, such
teams shall be graded A, B, C etc., A being senior to B and so on and each team must have a minimum of 3 players registered at the start of the season.
- A player may not play for a more junior team
than that in which he is registered unless special permission is obtained
from the Management Committee.
- A player may not play more than four matches in
any one season for a more senior team or a combination of senior teams than that in which he or she is registered
unless special permission is obtained from the Management Committee.
- The practice of playing senior players in
selected matches will not be accepted and offending clubs/teams may have
points deducted at the discretion of the Management Committee.
- Should any team play an ineligible player, any
sets won by the offending player will be awarded to the opposing team.
- The policy of registering a player in a team
lower than that in which he is capable of being
ranked, will be permitted only by prior approval of the Management
Committee and subject to any of the conditions the Committee may dictate.
- Representatives
- Each club and/or team shall nominate one of its
members as its representative and such members shall be responsible for
all notifications to his or her club by the League officials and for all
notifications to the League officials required by the rules. The name and
address of such representative shall be registered with the League Hon.
Secretary not less than one week before the start of the season.
- Any team which changes its playing venue, home
match night, secretary, address of secretary or
telephone number during the season, must notify the Hon. Secretary, the
Hon. Match Secretary and all other teams' representatives in the division
concerned immediately.
- The League Secretary shall give team
representatives at least two weeks notice of the start of the season
together with the first two weeks fixtures if handbooks are unavailable.
- Fees
- Each team shall pay an annual fee as determined
at the Annual General Meeting. In addition, a guarantee fee shall also be
paid for each team. The fee is refundable unless fines are incurred.
- All fees shall be due by 31st October
each year. Failure to do so will incur a fine of £3.00 plus a subsequent
fine of £1.00/month for each month following in which the fines are not
paid.
- Teams withdrawing from the League after the
first week of the season shall be liable for fees.
- Registration of Players
- Players shall be registered by their club each
season.
- Additional players may be registered during the
season but shall not be eligible to play until such registration has been
acknowledged and approved by the Hon. Match Secretary. Any such
registration shall be subsequently ratified by the Management Committee
whose decision shall be final.
- No player shall be eligible for registration
after January 31st unless otherwise decided by the Management
Committee. If a player has not played in at least 3 league matches for a club by February 1st then they are ineligible to play in any of the remaining matches in the season for that club unless special permission is obtained from the Management Committee.
- Any player wishing to transfer to another club
after the start of the season must obtain the consent of both clubs
involved. The transferred player may not play for the new club until the
transfer has been acknowledged by the Hon. Match Secretary. No transfers
may take place after January 31st unless otherwise decided by
the Management Committee.
- Matches
- A match shall consist of ten sets, each the
best of five games, played up to eleven points. Nine contests shall be
singles (i.e. each team member shall play each member of the opposing
team once) and the tenth shall be a doubles (see rule 5a).
- Each team shall play every other team in the
same division at least twice in the season, i.e. one 'home' match and
'one' away match.
- Matches will normally be played in accordance
with the fixture list supplied by the Hon. Match Secretary.
- Postponement of a league match will be allowed
only if the opposing team agrees and the postponing team immediately
informs the Match Secretary. If a dispute arises in relation to a
postponement the league match shall be deemed to be unplayed.
A penalty of 2 league points may be imposed if the above is not strictly
adhered to. League matches may be brought forward from the date specified
in the fixture list by mutual consent of the teams concerned and the
Match Secretary is informed. No league points shall normally be awarded
for an unplayed league match. Where
exceptionally a team satisfies the Management Committee that it has made
repeated efforts to play and is in no way responsible for the league
match being unplayed., the Management Committee
shall award that team the most league points it could reasonably have
expected to have won had the league match been played. The Management
Committee may impose a penalty of 5 league points where a team fails to
field any players for a league match without prior notice, thus causing
its opponents a wasted journey.
- Matches will commence at 7.30 p.m. Any team
member arriving later than 8.30 p.m. may be considered ineligible for
that match. If a team is not ready to commence a match at 7.45 p.m.,
providing all three members of the opposing team are present, they shall
have the option of claiming the match.
- Any claim for a match must be investigated by a
League Official/Management Committee. The person(s) investigating the
claim must not have any interest in the result of the match. Any claim
must be made in writing to the Match Secretary and the team making the
claim must send a copy of the claim to the opposing team representative
who in turn must send his/her account of events to the Match Secretary if
they intend to oppose the claim.
- The winning team shall be responsible for
advising the Hon. Match Secretary of the result of the match. The
scorecard provided, duly signed by both team representatives, must be posted or emailed in the next few days immediately following the match. In the event of this
not being complied with, the Hon. Match Secretary will allow five playing
days for receipt of the scorecard, after which three points will be
deducted from those gained by the winning team. In the event of a draw,
the 'home' team shall be responsible for the result notification and
three points will likewise be deducted from their points gained if the
scorecard is received after five playing days.
- All league matches arranged for the first half
of the season must be completed by 4th January and matches
for the second half of the season must be completed by Friday of the last
week of normal league and cup fixtures. These dates are subject to the
Management Committee's discretion. However, by agreement with both team
representatives, the second half match may be played as a 'double header'
if the first half match has not been played. The
Hon. Match Secretary must be informed of this by 31st
December. Failure to do so will result in the team initially requesting
the postponement forfeiting the match. In the event of any dispute, the
matter shall be referred to the Management Committee whose decision shall
be final. Under no circumstances will any league match postponements be
allowed after March 1st. 'Double headers' will count as two
matches for calculation of individual averages and for qualifying
purposes. In addition, if a team is to have points deducted from such a
match, then double the points will be deducted.
- All matches shall be played under the rules of
Table Tennis England.
- Matches shall be played on full size tables
only.
- The team playing at 'home' shall be responsible
for providing table, balls and net for each match.
- All persons shall use a bat which is in
accordance with the current ITTF rules on bat rubbers :
'The surface of one side of the racket shall be bright red and the
surface of the other side shall be black whether or not both sides are
used for striking the ball'. There shall be no exceptions.
- An umpire shall be appointed for every game by
mutual agreement.
- If a team fails to play 25% of scheduled league
matches by the end of the season then the team shall be expelled from the
League and matches played by the offending team will be expunged from the
League records.
- Points
- One point shall be awarded for each set won,
i.e. a maximum of ten points for each match. When both sides have only two players present, a point will not be awarded for the set due to be played between the two absent players and there will be a maximum of nine points awarded for the match.
- Teams at the top and bottom of each division
(i.e. who may be involved in promotion or relegation - see rule 12a)
completing their league programme with equal points, shall have their
league position decided on set difference. If still equal on sets, the position
shall be decided on games difference and if still equal, a play off shall
be arranged to decide the issue.
- Meetings
- In July or August each year, an Annual General Meeting
shall be called for the purpose of receiving reports and accounts of the
previous season and electing officers for the ensuing season and electing
Vice Presidents, if any. League accounts shall be made up to June 30th
each year. Notice of the Annual General Meeting shall be properly given
to the club/team representative of the previous season, at least fourteen
days prior to the date of the meeting.
- Any club not represented at the Annual General
Meeting or extraordinary General Meeting will be fined £2.00.
- No amendment to or addition to these rules shall
be made except at the Annual General Meeting or by an Extraordinary
General Meeting. Such amendment or addition must be made in writing to
the Hon. Match Secretary at least twenty eight days prior to the said
meeting. The Hon. Secretary shall let the League members have details of
such amendment or addition at least fourteen days before the AGM/EGM.
- An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called
by any two member clubs at any time. Notice of request for such a
meeting, giving full details of the reason for the meeting, must be given
to the Hon. Secretary at least twenty one days prior to the proposed date
of the meeting. The Hon. Secretary will then advise all
members/clubs/teams by post, at least seven days prior to the meeting.
- Promotion/Relegation
The
top two teams in a lower division shall normally be promoted. The bottom two
teams in a higher division shall normally be relegated. In the event of the
constitution of a promoted or relegated team being radically changed, or being
withdrawn, the promotion or relegation issue shall be decided by the Management
Committee, whose decision shall be final.
- Supplementary
- Two team handicap competitions (the Wellens Cup and the Wellens
Plate) shall be held in the second half of the season. Teams who have
played and lost in the Preliminary or 1st Round of the Wellens Cup competition will be entered into the Wellens Plate unless those teams request to be
omitted from the Wellens Plate. Players must
have played in three league matches by the end of the week prior to the
week in which the 1st Round of the Wellens
Cup is to be played. Players who have not played in three league matches
by the qualifying date may be given handicaps at the Management
Committee's discretion. If a player has played for a team in the Wellens Cup or Wellens Plate then he/she is not allowed to play for any other team in the Wellens Cup or Wellens Plate in the same season.
- A Closed Championship consisting of both singles
and doubles events may be held at the end of the normal playing season or the start of the following season.
No player may enter the Closed Championships unless he or she has played
in at least 25% of league matches played at the date of closing for
entries. Entries may be accepted from players who have not met the criteria
outlined, if a request is made in writing and there are satisfactory
reasons why the player could not play the necessary number of qualifying
matches. All such cases must be referred to and approved by the League
Management Committee. Each case will be assessed on its individual
merits.
- Supplementary competitions may be held before or during
the season.
- The Management Committee shall have the power to
make rules and appoint sub committees as necessary and to cancel or alter
any events as circumstances may dictate.
- Trophies
All
annual trophies should be returned to the League no later than the Closed
Championships. Failure to do so will incur a fine of £2.00. Any individual or
team failing to have a representative to receive their trophy at the presentation, shall not be awarded the trophy concerned.
- General
Any
infringement of these rules shall be referred to the Management Committee whose
decision shall be final.