Wilmslow And District Table Tennis League Rules                  (as revised September 2020)

  1. 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.

  1. Management
    1. 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.
    2. The decision of the Management Committee on all matters relating to the League shall be final.
    3. All officers and elected members shall retire annually but shall be eligible for re-election.
    4. 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.
    5. The Management Committee shall have the power to co-opt members as necessary.
  1. Membership
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
  1. 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.

  1. Teams
    1. 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.
    2. A club may enter any number of teams.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Should any team play an ineligible player, any sets won by the offending player will be awarded to the opposing team.
    8. 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.
  1. Representatives
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
  1. Fees
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Teams withdrawing from the League after the first week of the season shall be liable for fees.
  1. Registration of Players
    1. Players shall be registered by their club each season.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
  1. Matches
    1. 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).
    2. 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.
    3. Matches will normally be played in accordance with the fixture list supplied by the Hon. Match Secretary.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. All matches shall be played under the rules of Table Tennis England.
    10. Matches shall be played on full size tables only.
    11. The team playing at 'home' shall be responsible for providing table, balls and net for each match.
    12. 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.
    13. An umpire shall be appointed for every game by mutual agreement.
    14. 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.
  1. Points
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
  1. Meetings
    1. 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.
    2. Any club not represented at the Annual General Meeting or extraordinary General Meeting will be fined £2.00.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
  1. 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.

  1. Supplementary
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Supplementary competitions may be held before or during the season.
    4. 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.
  1. 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.

  1. General

Any infringement of these rules shall be referred to the Management Committee whose decision shall be final.